SL1M helps almost 100,000 graduates - PM Najib

The 1Malaysia Training Scheme (SL1M) has succeeded in empowering graduates with skills and experience to enhance their employability in securing jobs with the cooperation of government-linked companies and the private sector, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The Prime Minister said that from the time it was launched on June 1, 2011, up to December 2016, as many as 99,000 graduates had received assistance directly and indirectly.

"Of the total, 90 per cent found jobs in private companies and some were absorbed by the companies which had trained them.

"I was informed that the lives of participants had improved after participatin in SL1M," said Najib in a post on his blog, najibrazak.com, today.

The Prime Minister said the SL1M programme was like a probation period and, during the stint, participants obtained experience and learned the proper work procedures from the companies which trained them.

"This shows SL1M has succeeded in becoming a direct touchpoint of the government to help raise the general standard of living of Malaysians, especially those who come from poor families or live in the interior as well as the urban poor," he said.

The Prime Minister also shared the success stories of several individuals after they had participated in the SL1M programme.

"Among them are Pajilawati, a fisherman's daughter from Kudat, Sabah, who now works for Malaysia Airlines Berhad; Loi Tick Hong, son of a rubber tapper who has been working at CIMB Bank for six years, and Basker, whose father was a lorry driver, who works with Telekom Malaysia, and others," he said.

He said the issue of graduate employability was very important in achieving the national development agenda for the country to be a high-income developed nation.

"Through government initiatives such as SL1M, we will be able to produce a progressive, creative and innovative as well as competitive younger generation to lead the country in the future," he said. -- BERNAMA