M'sia lacks body to oversee TVET centres
Published on: Thursday, February 23, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: Malaysia has more than 1,000 TVET institutions, but without a central controlling and certification body that is much more desired for harmonise recognition and acceptance by employers of the skills of skilled employees.TVET stands for Technical and Vocational Education & Training.However, employers believe setting up institutions and churning out TVET graduates is akin to how politicians operate – getting benefits from the construction and placement of institutions in their constituencies, recruit trainees of their own kind like padding up their political supporters for election, and according paper qualifications irrelevant to market needs.
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Although the unemployment rate in Malaysia was officially around 3.3 per cent in 2014 before the economy took a dive from various issues including the GST in 2015 to 2016, the unemployment for youth aged up to 24 years old segment was officially 6.7 per cent, which was not widely known.During the questions and answers period at the TVET seminar here on Monday, some in the audience said it would be pointless to repeat the same issues seminar after seminar to be addressed, year after year.Chief Executive of the City & Guilds Group cautioned that the (UK) Government must tread carefully. "At the moment, we are at the risk of initiative overload. The Government has a tendency to ignore past mistakes in policy making by rushing policies through or not giving them time to embed." He was commenting on the (UK) Government's Industrial Strategy announced by UK Prime Minister Theresa May on January 27, 2017.
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In apt comparison for TVET graduates, Malaysia has 202 Giat Mara institutions, 12 IKM, 1 GMI, 9 KKTM and 1 University – Universiti Kuala Lumpur under the Federal Ministry of Rural and Regional Development, open only for Bumiputras.There are 6 CIDB centres under the Federal Ministry of Works.
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And the Federal Ministry of Agriculture has 1 CAM and 6 Ministry of Agriculture Institutes. There are some Perhebat Institutions and 1 Agensi Nuklear under the Federal Ministry of Defence.The Federal Ministry of Education has 88 Technical and Vocational Schools.There are 15 IKBN and 1 IKTBN under the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sport.The Federal Ministry of Higher Education has 28 polytechnics and 71 community colleges.There are 22 ILP, 4 ADTEC, under, and 500 to 600 private accredited centres by the Federal Ministry of Human Resources.The states and federal territories has their own institutions numbering 31 in total, all offering various qualifications.The benchmark to follow touted was Australia where a single coordinating authority under the Australian Qualification Framework reports to the Australian Government's Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.This ensures in Australia that each state's skills training department reports to a single federal ministry.This will provide clear overview of TVET landscape and increases efficiency.By comparison, in Malaysia, more than 20 government agencies reporting to their own ministries.There is no single authority over TVET landscape in Malaysia. There is no single body to provide oversight of TVET landscape.Seemingly, there is a lack of coordination between ministries like their own personal fiefdoms resulting in lack of overall understanding of the country's TVET landscape.What are the issues faced by main stakeholders in Malaysia?According to Datuk Seri Panglima Wong Khen Thau , employers may not be aware of the capabilities of graduates. "Many employers do not recognise the certifications due to the highly fragmented landscape today, with multiple ministries and industry issuing different certifications."As for students, they have a poor perception of skills training and view it as an option of last resort. Some students and their parents lack funding or unwilling to pay for skills training.The TVET providers say the public service has limited access to Malaysian Skills Certificate holders, and there is a shortage of funding for skills training. Private skills training providers face regulatory constraints and long waiting process when setting up institutes. "There exists a mismatch between the types of training provided and market needs," Wong said.There are major initiatives being undertaken from the rebranding of the TVET sector to mainstream and improve perception of TVET. This include rationalising TVET provisioning to meet economic and employment needs, and scaling up private TVET training provision.On a positive note, Wong cited the SkillsMalaysia rebranding as announced by the Prime Minister on Jan 11, 2011 as an apt way forward if realised.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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