KLANG: More than two million individuals have participated in skills development programmes under this year’s National Training Week (NTW), surpassing its initial target of one million participants, said Human Resource Minister Steven Sim.
He said 41 per cent of the participants were involved in training focused on Industry 4.0-related skills, highlighting a strong national push towards preparing the workforce for the digital and technological era.
“We want to use a platform like NTW to familiarise Malaysians when it comes to skills training. Go and take a course, any course. We want to make skills training a culture, a trend and to mainstream it so that everyone feels comfortable about doing courses.
“Don’t look down on this one week of training. Studies have shown that in Malaysia, 35 per cent of employers are recognising short-term courses to evaluate the potential of their employees, and this is way higher than the global average of 14 per cent.”
He said this at the launch of the NTW 2025 programme, ‘Logistics Unboxed: Empowering Workforce Beyond Borders’, here today.
Sim also urged the private sector to take part in training their workers so that the nation’s labour force is well equipped with the upcoming demands, thus securing Malaysia’s interest and aspiration to strengthen its economy.
“I always say, dear friends in industry, help us help you train your workers. Investors are coming, but we don’t have enough workers. We need 5,000 engineers, 10,000 technicians,” he said.
The ‘Logistics Unboxed’ programme is set to benefit around 400 participants, including students and employers, through five days of hybrid learning.
It combines online and in-person training sessions, delivered by representatives from the Human Resources Ministry, the Transport Ministry, the Human Resource Development Corporation (HRD Corp) and Infinity Logistics, providing valuable insights into emerging trends and essential skills for the evolving logistics landscape.
