Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud yesterday said that the allocation was part of initiatives to promote technical education especially among Bumiputeras in rural areas.
“Starting next year, we will spend RM10 million to nurture the growth of technical education. I hope the plan can be adopted and arranged by U-SCORE to produce training for skilled and technical workers,” he said at the launch of Bumiputera Trust Fund (Tegas) at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here.
U-SCORE is a consortium of higher learning institutions formed by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) and the state government to identify and plan various technical courses and training for SCORE industries.
He also urged all assemblypersons to work hard to promote the campaign by going to the ground and provide
better understanding to the people.
“A big campaign must be done for this. This campaign is just part of efforts to provide opportunities for the Bumiputera, rural folk and also the Chinese who do not have the opportunity to study technical education at the higher level,” he said.
The Chief Minister also said there was a need to expand Kolej Laila Taib to conduct more courses and reinvent skills development centres to suit the needs of SCORE.He said this would help to produce about 50,000 degree-level workers, an equal number of diploma-level workers and 250,000 certificate-level workers in 20 years’ time.
“This, maybe, is very difficult to implement but I believe that universities here and other universities such as those in Australia and India can help. Those interested in the technical field are assured of ample employment opportunities in SCORE.
“There are enough jobs to go around I can tell you. What I am afraid is not having enough people to take them up.”
Still on SCORE, the Chief Minister said that cheap energy from hydro power sources and not cheap labour was what attracted industries to the corridor.
“Technical workers are thus assured of better salaries,” he said.
Taib also called on youth leaders to give their full attention to opportunities provided by SCORE.
Later, Taib presented a RM5 million allocation to Tegas which is headed by Datu Len Talif Salleh.
Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Alfred Jabu, Second Minister of Resource Planning and Environment Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan, Minister of Housing Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg, Assistant Minister in Chief Minister’s Office (Promotion of Technical Education) Datu Len Talif Salleh and Puan Sri Ragad Kurdi Taib were among those who attended the function.
extracted from the Borneo Post
