100 STUDENTS GRADUATE FROM TUNNELLING TRAINING ACADEMY
They will work on underground portion of Mass Rapid Transit Line 2
BEATRICE NITA JAY AND SOO WERN JUN SHAH ALAM news@nst.com.my
ONE hundred students from MMC-Gamuda’s Tunnelling Training Academy (TTA) were presented with their graduation scrolls and employment letters to work on the underground portion of Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line 2 (Sungai Buloh-SerdangPutrajaya) here yesterday.
As part of the efforts to encourage a sustainable local workforce, these students were trained and subsequently offered jobs with MRT projects.
Students who joined the TTA were streamlined according to their majors and underwent a series of training for three to four months.
Najib Mohd Boina, 23, one of the graduates was shortlisted to be part of the training programme under MMC-Gamuda.
“Earlier, my parents were not satisfied with the choice I made as they were worried about my safety. I’m thankful for the opportunity and am confident that I can prove to them that I have chosen the right career path.”
The Sandakan youth said he would have stayed back home to run a small business if he was not offered the programme.
Syed Muhammad Ikram, 21, said aspiring trainees must be physically and mentally strong. “The training was dangerous. “But my friends and I did not give up as we have a great interest in the industry,” said Ikram, a former Kuantan Community College student.
Fellow trainee, Ahmad Amrul Amsary Mohammad, 21, said he looked forward to working on the underground portion of MRT Line 2.
“Now that we have received our employment letter, I am excited to start working. We learnt a lot during our training, and although we had practical training at MRT sites in Jalan Chocrane and Jalan Titiwangsa, I can’t wait for the real deal.”
Amrul said though many of his friends were still jobless, he had already secured a job which meant that he would be able to support his family financially.
As the world’s first academy to provide training in tunnel-related work using tunnel-boring machine technology, TTA provides opportunity for youth to be trained in essential skills for underground and tunnelling works.
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