Sivakumar urges employers to provide opportunities for workers to undergo training, talent development to develop skilled workforce

GEORGE TOWN, July 14 — Employers are urged to provide opportunities for their workers to go for training and talent development so that initiatives implemented by the government to produce a more highly skilled workforce are not in vain.

Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar said in doing so, the employers would ensure their workforce remained relevant with the advent of Industrial Revolution 4.0.

“There are many initiatives introduced by the ministry and is agencies to provide training aimed at upskilling and reskilling the workforce, but if there is no interest from employers to send their workers, then these efforts are in vain.

“The development of technology will cause new jobs to appear, therefore there is a need for employees to improve their skills, not only for career advancement or career change, but also for them to remain in their respective jobs,” he told reporters after a working visit to the Penang Skills Development Centre (PSDC) here today.

Citing the Skills Development Fund Corporation (PTPK) and TalentCorp through the Industry Driven Talent Acceleration Programme (ID-TAP), he said they were required to ensure the sustainability of the national workforce.

These programmes can help companies to advance and will also benefit the country as a whole because the training given to the workforce meets the needs of the industry. he said and hoped that the RM7.2 million investment from the government in the ID-TAP initiative was used effectively.

“I hope that the ID-TAP programme will continue to benefit more Malaysians, especially TVET talents. The first phase of ID-TAP will benefit more than 900 employees from 100 companies, and so far, a total of 421 employees have undergone the training,” he said.

He said it was important to have high quality and highly skilled workforce as it is one of the criteria to attract more investment into the country, as well as strengthen its economy.

Hence, the need to invest in education and training so that the workforce has the skills needed to succeed in the global market, in addition to creating a stable political system and a strong legal system, he added. — Bernama