PUTRAJAYA: As part of its effort to promote technical and vocational training among Malaysian secondary school students, the Education Ministry (MOE) is targetting 10 per cent of 2,048 secondary schools across the country for its Upper Secondary Industry Apprenticeship programme (PIMA).
"We are using the National Dual Training System (SLDN) for our PIMA programme, which is modelled after the training system in Germany," MOE's Education Operations Sector deputy director-general Datuk Ahmad Tajudin Jab said during a briefing session in his office here today.
PIMA has been widely implemented in Malaysian vocational schools since 2012. But Tajudin said there is an urgency for the daily secondary schools to adopt it due to the increasing number of high school dropouts.
"Based on the ministry's 2016 stats, 14% of Malaysian teens are not in upper secondary schools. Our enrolment rate for Form Four and Form Five is only 86.2%," he said, adding that it is a worrying trend.
"Some of them may have dropped out of school to work in order to support their families. We need to target the PT3 group (16 and 17 years old). We don't have to wait until they finish SPM to equip them with the technical and vocational skills that they need for the job market."
"Or if these students were to depend on their bad academic results, they couldn't go anywhere."
Under PIMA, upper secondary students will spend 30 per cent of their coursework in industrial training.
Among the proposed key sectors for the industrial training are agriculture, culinary arts, spa management, motorbikes and automotive and air-conditioner repairs.
For PIMA to be implemented effectively in the daily schools, SMK Bukit Rahman Putra in Sungai Buloh, Selangor has been chosen as a pilot project.
"The school's administrators and Parents-Teachers Association (PIBG) are working closely with Hong Leong Yamaha in developing a sustainable PIMA module for the school," said Tajudin.
"They are also talking to 24 companies to expand the programmes for special children of the Pusat Pendidikan Khas Integrasi (PPKI)."
Pix by Noorsila Abd Majid
Photo caption: Education Ministry's Education Operations Sector deputy director-general Datuk Ahmad Tajudin Jab striking a pose with reps from SMK Bukit Rahman Putra and selected industry players.