Education Minister Maszlee Malik will head the national-level Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Empowerment Committee to develop a new policy that is more relevant to industry’s needs.

Human Resource Minister M Kula Segaran said the decision was reached at a special meeting on Wednesday that comprised ministers and ministries related to TVET.

“The new TVET Empowerment Committee has been merged with the previous one led by Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar and it will be headed by Education Minister Maszlee Malik.

“Our aim is to review TVET-related issues thoroughly and devise a new strategy in order to strengthen TVET,” he told reporters after visiting the Selandar Industrial Training Institute (ILP) in Jasin today.

Earlier, he spent about 30 minutes in a dialogue with the students to briefly explain the importance of TVET in future.

Kula Segaran also said that specific focus would be given to the implementation of TVET in training institutions across the country including ILPs and vocational colleges in the future.

He said the special focus involved various aspects including better allocation and infrastructure to produce skilled manpower.

This was in line with the current needs of the job market in the country that emphasised on the recruitment of skilled manpower versus academic aspects to face the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0), he said.

Kula Segaran said the special focus was also to create more local skilled manpower at 35 percent next year compared to just 28 percent today, he said.

- Bernama