SUNGAI PETANI, July 30 — Students in the country need to get early exposure on career options based on their aptitude and abilities to enable them to contribute to the country’s development.

Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar cited the ‘YES! Rock The School’ programme, which provides early exposure to job sectors and career paths that are in high demand, as a platform for students to form the right choice.

“This is the initiative taken to give exposure to those who are still in rudimentary school to learn about careers, how to make a choice and to determine their direction because this early intervention is important.

“If you wait until they enter the ivory tower to decide on their career, it may be too late, they (may) choose a course that is not in demand in the (job) market,” he said when met at the programme at Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology (AIMST University) near here today.

Also present was Minister of Education Fadhlina Sidek.

The ‘YES! Rock The School’ programme organised by the Ministry of Human Resources (KSM) through Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad (TalentCorp) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education was conceived at the end of 2021.

Sivakumar said the programme, organised as a mega edition in Kedah was the first to be implemented in the country, thus showing the current government’s commitment to helping youth identify their potential and career choices for their future.

“We will expand this programme to other states after this... the ministry’s current focus is industry-driven, we want to make sure what are the needs of the industries and we prepare graduates to meet those needs.

“So a programme like this is important to ensure that we look at the demand first and then try to create the available supply,” he said.

He said most students are only exposed to mainstream careers such as doctors, lawyers and accountants while there are other fields that have high job marketability such as digital and cyber security.

“...there are many other options out there, especially in digital marketing... I was informed that there are 10,000 jobs in cyber security,” he said.

A total of 600 secondary school students from 20 schools in Kedah participated in the Mega Kedah edition programme which was organised in collaboration with the State Education Department. — Bernama