KAJANG: The Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) is now focusing on exploring and introducing new courses in the field of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) related to sports.
Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh said this effort is also important to ensure that TVET in KBS is more focused and does not overlap with TVET fields offered by other ministries.
She said this initiative would also open opportunities for youth, including young prison inmates through the ‘Reben Kuning’ (Yellow Ribbon) project, to enhance their skills in sports-related fields.
“Our TVET is more sports-related… for example, we have already offered skills in sports massage, golf caddying… So, we are exploring all sports science-related TVET programmes to ensure that the direction is focused.
“We will not attempt to venture into hospitality where other ministries may have more specific skills for that TVET… we are diversifying our TVET courses,” she told reporters after attending the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur ‘Projek Reben Kuning 2024’ programme at the Kajang Women’s Prison here today.
Also present were National Youth and Sports Department director-general Mohd Azhari Mohammad and Prisons Deputy Commissioner General (Security and Correctional), Datuk Abdul Aziz Abdul Razak.
For this purpose, she said, KBS will continue to empower the ‘Reben Kuning’ project for young inmates in prisons and Henry Gurney Schools as a ‘second chance’ programme by offering several skill development training programess with career and entrepreneurial opportunities.
“For instance, today, 20 prospective young women from the Kajang Women’s Prison have completed the Golf Sports Massage Therapy Course and the Basic Golf Caddy Operations Course under Akademi Kemahiran Belia Golf .
“We will further expand this effort so that more (prison inmates) can follow these courses… in fact, through my discussions with golf associations, the sports industry requires more golf caddies, and this is a matching that has occurred,” she said.
Additionally, Hannah said KBS will also expand the implementation of the Rakan Muda programme in all prisons in the country involving the participation of young inmates as a leisure activity programme.
“The most suitable programmes for them are Rakan Mahir, Rakan Aktif, and Rakan Prihatin where we want the youth outside with skills to share (their skills) with them,” she said.
According to Hannah, this initiative is a new direction for KBS so that youth leadership courses are not only focused on the top 10 percent but also benefit the other 90 percent of youths.
