KUCHING: The Sarawak state government will complement the efforts of the federal government in technical and vocational education trainings (TVET) to ensure Malaysian human capital remains highly knowledgeable, skilful, creative and innovative.

Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said in this respect, the State Ministry of Education, Innovation and Talent Development (MEITD) had been tasked to collaborate with other agencies to head the technical trainings in the state.

“A study by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak in 2014 has estimated that by 2030, more than one million new jobs will be created of which more than 50 percent or more than 600,000 jobs will be skilled and semi-skilled jobs.

“Now we (Sarawak) have 104 public and private TVET institutions in the state with a total capacity of about 30,000 trainees. These institutions jointly produce an annual output of about 11,000 certificate holders in different trades,“ he said in his speech at the closing ceremony of the third Worldskills Malaysia Sarawak 2023 here, today.

His speech text was read by Sarawak Minister of Education, Innovation and Talent Development, Datuk Seri Roland Sagah Wee Inn.

Abang Johari said Sarawak will establish more technical training centres and at the same time tune the quality of existing programmes and courses to suit the requirements of industries in various fields.

“At the current rate we would only be able to produce 500,000 skilled workers by 2030. We need to substantially increase our training capacity.

“The state will require a three-fold increase in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) enrolment in order to meet the state’s and the nation’s needs,“ he said.

He added that Sarawak was the only state in Malaysia to organise the skills competition which is strongly supported by Jabatan Pembangunan Kemahiran (JPK), and aimed to recognise highly skilled youths and enhance the skills of trainees from public and private TVET institutions.

The Worldskills Malaysia Sarawak is the offshoot of WorldSkills Malaysia and Worldskills, with the mission to raise the profile and recognition of skilled people and to show the importance of skills in achieving economic growth and personal success. –Bernama