Government committed to providing job opportunities for graduates - Najib

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the government was committed to providing employment opportunities for graduates to keep the country's economy growing.

He said about 300,000 students from public and private universities, polytechnics and colleges would be graduating each year, and they aspired to get jobs commensurate with their qualifications.

"As a government, we must develop the economy, increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and this will lead to higher employment opportunities. We do not want economic growth but without any increase in employment opportunities.

"It's not a simple matter to provide jobs to 300,000 graduates every year, but the government is determined to do its best for the younger generation.

"I believe we can develop the national economy and provide more employment opportunities to our people," he said during a breaking-of-fast ceremony at Seri Perdana here, tonight.

The ceremony was attended by about 1,200 students from public and private universities, polytechnics, overseas students' alumni, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the youth coalitions.

Also present were the prime minister's wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Razali Ibrahim.

According to Najib, the government had provided many job opportunities and through the implementation of the national transformation policy since 2010, added 2.2 million jobs for Malaysians.

Meanwhile, Najib said the government was committed to continue providing high-quality education with low fees to all students in the country.

"Public universities in the country is the only service where the fee has not been increased since independence, and financial assistance is also provided to students," he said.

Najib said he wanted Malaysia to become a higher education hub in the region by attracting more foreign students, especially from Asean and the Middle East countries.

At the function, Najib and Rosmah presented contributions to about 80 Permata students.

-- BERNAMA