PUTRAJAYA: The National Anti-Drug Agency will introduce Technical and Vocational Education and Training programmes to its clients next year to boost their marketability and reduce addiction risks.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the programmes would begin with pioneer projects at several narcotics addiction rehabilitation centres using an initial RM1 million allocation.
“Clients at the centres will receive rehabilitation and treatment modules and there are some researchers from symposiums with the view that TVET programmes are a suitable need to be implemented,“ he told a media conference after closing the 2025 National Drug Addiction Science Symposium.
He said the government had presented this idea to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who chairs the National TVET Committee, and obtained agreement.
The programmes will provide NADA clients with opportunities to obtain accredited skill certificates and return to the job market after rehabilitation.
“Like skill training models at prisons, we see this approach successfully reducing readdiction rates. So, NADA will head in this direction and it is expected to begin early next year,“ he added.
Besides the TVET programme, the symposium submitted four other resolutions including implementation of evidence-based Anti-Drug Communication Plan and a mass movement as integrated national strategy.
Other resolutions covered expansion of voluntary treatment and rehabilitation plus technology-based enforcement.
Saifuddin Nasution stressed these resolutions will form the basis for drafting his ministry’s new policies to strengthen national drug prevention and rehabilitation plans.
“Drugs remain a threat and curbing drugs remains a number one priority. We have never shied away from that commitment,“ he said. – Bernama
