KUALA LUMPUR: The Industry Skills Education and Training Commission bill 2018 which was tabled in Parliament yesterday, has the much anticipated guidelines for the formation of a special commission to solely coordinate the Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) in the country.
The private member’s bill states that two ministries will be in the commission, namely the education ministry and the human resources ministry which are tasked to strengthen and improve TVET, which a chairman of the commission will be appointed by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
The role of the commission will be to govern and manage the Department of skills development.
The commission will also advise the cabinet and the prime minister on policies and plans of TVET and find ways for implementing competitive structures and mechanisms for TVET.
Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar has been pushing for this committee to enhance the role of TVET in the country.
Nurul Izzah currently chairs a task force to strengthen and improve TVET.
Currently, seven ministries are overlooking the programme, but there have been calls to set up a single over-reaching agency to unify the TVET programmes.
This agency should also be empowered to monitor the quality and set benchmarks for the numerous TVET programmes.
Under the recent budget 2019, the government announced that it will set up a TVET fund to create a more competitive environment as well as training programmes to fulfil industry needs.
As of now, RM30 million has already been allocated to this fund.
TVET programmes in the country are offered at certificate, diploma and degree levels by seven ministries that include the education ministry, which offers the most TVET programmes to the highest number of students.
