More than 60% of jobs require TVET by 2020

SERIAN: The government is targeting to create about 1.5 million new jobs by 2020, with 60 per cent of them requiring those having Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), said Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot Jaem.

This, he said, made TVET an important platform to enhance the skills of Malaysian work force, with 35 per cent of the skilled workers to be produced by 2020.

Towards this end, he said, the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak had emphasised the need to alleviate TVET to mainstream education and with that, appointed the ministry as coordinator of TVET Malaysia.

"TVET is now seen as among the competitive field,” he told a media conference after officiating the ground-breaking ceremony for the Serian Industrial Training Institute (ILPS) yesterday.

He said diverse employment opportunities awaited TVET graduates, as well as to venture into business and become digital technopreneurs.

According to Riot, currently, 28 per cent of the Malaysian workforce were highly-skilled, and efforts would be made to increase it to 35 per cent in 2020.

He advised students to undertake skills training to make it easier for them to obtain jobs.

On the Serian ILP Serian project, Riot said it would be built on a 56.76 acre site in Kampung Tenggak, Serian, and cost RM300 million.

Construction work on the project would begin in May this year and expected to complete in 33 months, he said.

Riot said the ILP in Serian was scheduled to be in operation in 2021 and could accommodate 600 trainees at one time.