SPEAKING NOTES
HON. M. KULA SEGARAN
MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCES
6th ASIAN SUMMIT ON EDUCATION & SKILLS 2019
23 SEPTEMBER 2019
BENGALURU, INDIA
1.
First and
foremost, I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to the Secretariat of
the 6th Asian Summit on Education and Skills 2019 for the invitation
extended to me to be present at this auspicious event. It is indeed an honour
to be at the same event with many other Ministers and senior officials who are
responsible for policy making and managing Technical and Vocational Education
and Training (TVET) in India and various Asian countries.
BACKGROUND – TVET ECOSYSTEM IN MALAYSIA
2.
The
scenario of TVET ecosystem in Malaysia is quite unique. Most countries, usually
have a single ministry mandated to oversee TVET matters. However, in Malaysia,
TVET is under the purview of six (6) main Ministries namely the Ministry of
Education, Ministry of Human Resources, Ministry of Works, Ministry of
Agriculture and Agro-based Industries, Ministry of Rural Development and finally,
the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Currently in Malaysia, there are 775*
public TVET institutions and 666* private TVET institutions.
3.
In
Malaysian, currently, there is no single legislation governing TVET across the various
Ministries. TVET institutions under the Ministry of Education are governed by
the Education Act, while other
institutions offering the National Skill Certificates must adhere to the
provisions of the National Skills
Development Act. There is also the Malaysian
Qualification Agency Act that regulates the accreditations of programs and
qualifications offered by higher education institutions which also include TVET
programmes.
4.
In order
to improve the coordination of TVET among all the Ministries, recently in this
year, a Cabinet Committee on TVET empowerment was established. The
committee is chaired by the Minister of Education, and the members hail from
all the six (6) Ministers involved in TVET.
TVET AT THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCES
5.
The
Ministry of Human Resources, is a major TVET player in Malaysia. Under this
Ministry, four (4) entities are involved in TVET namely:
(i) Department
of Skills Development (DSD) -
responsible for development of skill standards, programme accreditation and
certification, and TVET instructor training
(ii)
Department
of Manpower -
responsible for delivery of various high level TVET programmes and courses at thirty
two (32) Institutes under the Department
(iii)
Skills
Development Fund Corporation - responsible for providing loans to TVET students at both the public
and private institutions, and
(iv)
Human
Resource Development Fund -
responsible for managing various schemes to promote the training of existing
workers as well as future workers.
6.
The
Ministry of Human Resources is involved in the whole eco-system of TVET: through
DSD the government has developed National Occupational Skills Standards (NOSS)
to provide employment standards leading to
certification with Malaysian Skills Certificate from Level 1-3 , Malaysian
Skills Diploma and Malaysian Skills Advanced Diploma. Subsequently DSD implemented the Star Rating system to evaluate programme quality
performance of accredited centers under DSD to improve the quality of TVET
delivery in the country. Our TVET programmes extend beyond programmes for
school students and school leavers by also including working adults and members
of the public who are keen on developing skills and obtaining useful
qualifications. This includes engaging industry and training institution
partnership through the National Dual Training System and providing opportunity
for certification based on experience via Accreditation of Prior Achievement. To
strengthen the governance of TVET, MOHR has established 6 working committees
under National Skills Development
Council as follows;
(i)
TVET Governance
(ii)
Certification
and Recognition
(iii)
Financing of TVET Training
(iv)
TVET Training Quality
(v)
Strategic
Cooperation
(vi)
Promotion
(vii)
The roles of these working committesis to advice the
minister on matters pertaining to NASDA 652.
7.
TVET Institutes
administered by the Department of Manpower conducts certificate, diploma, and
advanced-diploma level TVET programs, besides part-time courses. Currently, our
enrolment of full-time students is at 18,000 students but our figure for
short-course participants is much higher. For example, last year, in 2018, Institutions
under the Department of Manpower trained a total of 51,455 short-course
participants, helping them learn valuable skills and earn certificates and
qualifications that help advance their careers. Altogether, since 1964, the Department
of Manpower has trained 817,553 skilled workers comprising of 209,057 graduates
of full-time programs, and 608,496 workers trained through short-courses.
8.
The
Ministry of Human Resources is also responsible for instructor training. The
Centre for Instructor and Advanced Skill Training (CIAST) conducts pedagogical
training for TVET instructors leading to graduates being awarded Vocational
Training Operation (VTO) certificate. CIAST also conducts various trainings for
Vocational Education & Training
Implementation, Vocational Education & Training Management and technical training for existing and future
trainers.
RECONSTRUCTING TVET IN THE
DIGITAL AGE
9.
One of the
challenges faced in Malaysia is managing the public's negative perception of
TVET that is often associated with students who are academically weak, looked
upon as a last choice of education and career option. This is in contrast to
practices in developed countries such as Germany, Japan, here in India and
Australia which have more positive perceptions on TVET education.
10.
Apart
from that, a bigger challenge faced is meeting the requirements of new
technologies associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0), as well
as embedding TVET curriculum with soft-skills relevant to IR4.0. The Ministry
aspires to train the future skilled workforce to be competent in technologies
associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4). Some of the key
technologies that are frequently associated with IR4 are Artificial
Intelligence (A.I), robotics, Internet of Things (IoT), and additive
manufacturing or 3D printing. Taking into account India’s rapid advancement
particularly in IR4 technologies, it makes sense to learn from India’s many
areas of best practices in technology development and education.
11.
TVET now should
no longer be confined to the conventional and traditional trades. With the
emergence of IR4.0, TVET institutions have the opportunity to position
themselves as providers of advanced skills training. New TVET programmes are
being introduced such as in the fields of smart technologies, robotics, automation,
autonomous drones, cyber security and big data analytics.
CONTRIBUTION OF ENTERPRISES IN THE TRAINING OF
SKILLED PERSONNEL
12.
We can do
many great and wonderful things for TVET, but the most important thing we need
to do is to ensure that our TVET graduates meet the various requirements of the
industries. If this is not met, then all our hard work is in vain. We aspire to
reduce the industry skills gap and produce high quality TVET graduates who can
immediately contribute at the workplace and will require only minimal
additional training to be productive at work. For this to happen, more TVET institutions
and the industry needs to work closely to develop and deliver programmes and
courses that are up to date and relevant. At the same time, we need to
encourage more youths to participate in TVET so that in the long run, the
country will have a large pool of highly trained local people to be part of our
industry workforce.
13.
One good
example on enterprise collaboration to train skilled personnel is the collaboration
between agencies under the Ministry of Human Resources with Daikin Malaysia for
the Air-Conditioner Certified Technician programme in which the MoU was signed
last month. Under this collaboration, Daikin Malaysia provides the technology
and technical expertise and contributes air conditioning units and racks for
training purpose, while the Department of Manpower provides facilities and
instructors for trainings, and the Human Resource Development Fund provides the
training fund for qualified participants from the Small and Medium Enterprises
category.
14.
Enterprises
also help provide on-the-job training or industrial training for students from
TVET institutions. This training is very important to acclimatize the TVET
students to the workplaces, and help bridge the skills gap between institute
and industry.
15.
The
Ministry has also introduced a new initiative called the Institute-Industry
Management Board (IIMB) in which industry representatives participate in the
management of various programmes and courses at our training institutes. IIMB
is an important initiative to ensure that graduates produced by our TVET
institutions meet the needs of the industry. The IIMB draws participation from
the industry so that they can provide inputs towards the continuous betterment
of programs and courses at the Institutes.
Prepared By:
Policy Division
Department of Manpower
Department of Skills
Development
Ministry of Human Resources
19th September
2019
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