IPOH, Apr 6 — Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) graduates will be accepted to Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) institutions in the country, M. Kulasegaran said today.
This is part of the Human Resources Ministry’s move to drop the minimum entrance age to 16 years’ old and open up courses even to those without formal education.
The human resources minister said the move was aimed at boosting interest in the institutions that are currently operating at just 65 per cent of their capacity.
“Why waste the 35 per cent vacancies. Isn’t it very sad? We want more students and we are making it easier for them to come,” he said, adding the government spent RM4 billion annually on TVET.
Speaking to reporters here today after a dialogue session with the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) at the Ipoh Industrial Training Institute, the Ipoh Barat MP said TVET was skills-based and not dependent on academic performance.
He also urged parents not to disdain vocational training and to allow their children to pursue this if they are so inclined, rather than forcing them to continue academic pursuits in which they were not interested.
Kulasegaran reiterated the development of the country’s human capital was essential for its overall progress.
The minister also noted the demand for vocationally trained workers.
“Graduates of TVET are 94 per cent employed,” he said, adding that his ministry was working on to make 35 per cent of the population part of the skilled workforce as set under the 11th Malaysia Plan.
“Currently, only 28 per cent of the population is skilled,” he added.
