National TVET Council endorses establishment of govt-industry TVET coordination body

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the body would be involved directly in the development of TVET human capital, especially in boosting the skills and manpower essential for the country.

"The GITC membership comprises 12 associations representing the industries that have agreed to work together to ensure the success of the national TVET agenda," he said in a statement today.

Ismail Sabri had earlier chaired a meeting of the council via teleconference, which was also attended by 13 ministers, industry players including from the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers, academicians and student representatives.

In the statement, he said the meeting had also agreed to the implementation of a TVET Collaboration Hub involving 11 ministries and to be coordinated by the Ministry of Higher Education.

"This initiative will become a platform for strategic collaboration of expertise, equipment and technology between centres of excellence and TVET institutions, as well as the regional economic and industrial authorities," he said.

Ismail Sabri said 12 collaboration hubs had been identified including automotive, semiconductor, marine, air-conditioning, aerospace, robotics, rail, telecommunications, tourism and hospitality, as well as food technology, which would be implemented in the peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak.

He said the meeting also agreed in principle to the proposal on TVET Single Rating Programme, but engagement sessions with the relevant ministries and industries should be carried out before the proposal could be further discussed in their next meeting.

"The initiative is expected to strengthen the symbiosis of the TVET ecosystem in connecting the parties involved to bridge the gap between labour demand and supply," he said.

Efforts undertaken by the council were also significant to realise the strategies and initiatives formulated under the 12th Malaysia Plan.

Ismail Sabri said in the national Budget 2022, the government had allocated RM6.6 billion to empower TVET through various initiatives to be undertaken by the relevant ministries and agencies.

"Those initiatives will create TVET graduates who will meet the needs of the industries, improve the quality of TVET institutions, strengthen the offering of industry-oriented programmes and increase active involvement of the industries.

"It is high time for TVET to become the top choice of youths in preparing themselves for the future as TVET has been proven capable of producing skilled, trained and entrepreneurial individuals," he said.

Realising the importance of TVET, the prime minister said the meeting also agreed for campaigns, promotions and rebranding efforts to be done comprehensively to eliminate the perception that TVET is a second-class education and no longer irrelevant.

"Through the campaign and promotional efforts, we hope TVET will be made an option equivalent to academics, hence making it a career of choice in Malaysia like in the developed countries," he said.

As such, Ismail Sabri said the Ministry of Education had been asked to provide early exposure to TVET education system to all first formers so that they could make choices according to their own inclinations.

So far, he said there were 1,295 public and private TVET providers across 11 ministries, including 22 state government-owned TVET institutions nationwide, which provides technical and vocational education and training at certificate and diploma levels.

In fact, he said the government had recognised the Malaysian Vocational Diploma as a ticket to enter public technical universities in Malaysia, such as Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) and Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP).