KUALA LUMPUR: The government is looking into improving the value of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programme graduates to help them earn higher salaries.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the government planned to propose a RM3,000 starting salary for skilled workers graduated from any of the 1,200 TVET centres nationwide.
"These skilled workers are the heart of industrialisation and they deserve to be paid well for their contribution to the industry and nation.
"They are responsible for producing the end product for consumers and should be rewarded accordingly," he told reporters at the Industrial Training Institute here, after a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) signing ceremony between 10 government-linked and private companies and the government today.
Zahid said more corporate companies should come forward to form strategic partnerships with TVET centres to provide training and possible employment opportunities to students.
He said the 10 industrial strategic partners involved in the MoC today would be directly involved in the national TVET execution programmes through curriculum development, expert services, as well as training programme fundings to expand government's education transformation agenda.
"This is just the start of something bigger which we envisioned to expand from 10 to 100 companies by the end of the year," he said, adding that the government welcomed participation of oil and gas, automotive, construction, aerospace and software engineering companies, among others.
Also present was Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar who inked the MoC with the corporate companies on behalf of the government.
Among the companies that signed the MoC are Petronas, Gamuda Berhad, Bermaz Auto Berhad, Malaysia Marine, Sunway Group Services, Redbeat Academy (AirAsia) and Daikin Malaysia.
Zahid, who is also the Rural and Regional Development Minister, also said the collaboration between the government and GLCs would help increase the confidence and future enrolment in TVET programmes.
He said in the effort to uplift TVET, the government had embarked on several initiatives including allowing transfer of credits for students keen to venture into various technical fields and undergo training with government centres.
"We are far left behind in terms of TVET as only 5 per cent of the students actually take up TVET, compared to other developing countries in our region."