PM: Use Penjana to upskill
Programme aims to boost graduates’ marketability
BANGI: Unemployed graduates should take full advantage of the Penjana KPT-CAP Career Advancement Programme (CAP) to improve their marketability, said Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
The Prime Minister noted that the courses in the programme were designed to meet the needs and requirements of participating companies who will take on the graduates as their employees.
“I call on graduates of 2019 and 2020 who have not been fortunate in securing employment to take advantage of this opportunity to increase their skills and competency, thereby improving their marketability,” he said when launching the programme at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) yesterday.
He cited the Smart Trucker as one of the courses which met the needs of companies, adding: “Graduates will be offered employment with the logistic company upon completion of the course.”
He said the government had set aside RM100mil for CAP as part of the RM2bil allocated for training and upskilling under the nation’s economic recovery plan.
He called on graduates to develop their entrepreneurial skills to earn income and become “job creators”.
In her welcome speech, Higher Education Minister Datuk Dr Noraini Ahmad said 41,161 graduates had not yet secured employment six months after graduating in 2019.
She added that an estimated 75,000 graduates would face the same predicament this year.
“This means that there will be 161,161 graduates who will need attention to upgrade their marketability,” she noted.
Noraini said the Penjana KPTCAP programme would help these graduates secure jobs or start their own businesses.
She said at least 20,000 graduates will benefit from Penjana KPT-CAP.
“To date, 140 programmes have been lined up by not less than 100 companies,” she added.
She announced that the ministry has also set up a Graduates Reference Hub for graduates to apply for the programmes.