Ministry eyes training 10,000 S’wakians during National Training Week
KUCHING: The Ministry of Human Resources has set a target to train around 10,000 Sarawakians for free in various types of courses during its National Training Week here, to run from June 24-30.
Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong says this initiative is part of his ministry’s efforts to provide skills training for workers this year.
“There are more than 100 types of courses, and the value of these courses is over RM20 million.
“We will be going all out to ensure that the labour market, be it in Sarawak or other states, is well-prepared to improve and increase productivity, which in turn will contribute towards boosting the national economy,” he said at the ministry’s ‘Kesuma Madani Chinese New Year’ celebration here yesterday.
Sim said last year, a total of 2,500 Sarawakians benefitted from the ministry’s free training courses during the National Training Week, sa programme under the Human Resources Development Corporation (HRD Corp).
He said the focus on training more workers in Sarawak was to support the direction of the state government, especially through the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE).
“This is a big direction, and is expected to generate over RM300 billion in investments by Year 2030. As such, this requires skilled workers and we will help in that sense to ensure a competent labour market, while responding to the economic challenges of the 21st century, which is the green economy,” he said.
Earlier, Sim launched the ‘Handbook to Prevent and Combat Forced Labour and Human Trafficking’ at the ministry’s ‘Meet the Customers Day Programme’ held at Plaza Merdeka here, where later, he also presented the Social Security Organisation (Socso) benefits to registered recipients, and witnessed the exchange of memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Industrial Training Institute (ILP) and Petronas.
The MoU between the Human Resources Department, the Ministry of Human Resources and Petronas is a collaborative effort of the Petronas Technical Assistance and Vocational Training Programme at the training institute of the Training Institution of the Human Resources Department – known as the Petronas Vocational Institution Sponsorship and Training Assistance (Vista).
Also present yesterday were Minister for Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Sarawak Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah; Deputy Minister in Sarawak Premier’s Department (Labour, Immigration and Project Monitoring) Datuk Gerawat Gala; Human Resources Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud; Sarawak Labour Department director Awang Raduan Awang Omar; Socso chief executive officer Datuk Seri Dr Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed; Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii; and Mas Gading MP Mordi Bimol.