KUALA LUMPUR: The Government has introduced yet another fund
to retrain the Malaysian workforce to become highly skilled workers,
this time in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), with an initial amount
of RM2mil to retrain 500 workers.
Human Resource Minister Datuk
Dr S. Subramaniam said the new fund, known as the 1Malaysia HRDF (Human
Resource Development Fund) Skills Upgrading Fund, would assist more than
8,000 SMEs in continuous retraining and skills upgrading.
Speaking
at the launch of the new fund here, Dr Subramaniam said the objectives
of the fund were to provide financial assistance and opportunities for
employees whose workers were registered with the ministry’s Perbadanan
Sumber Manusia Berhad (PSMB).
”The aim is to upgrade their
knowledge and skills in the areas of innovation, creativity and high
value-added, and also to encourage SMEs to send their employees for
training in certification programmes that would increase their income,”
he said.
He said this would add value to the training that they
undergo.
”These objectives are in line with the Government’s
aspiration to develop Malaysia into a high-income economy with human
capital development as the impetus for growth,” the minister said.
To
be eligible for the fund, he said, employees must attend certification
training programmes which were assessed and awarded by recognised bodies
such as chargeman training by the Energy Commission of Malaysia, boiler
training by the Department of Safety and Health as well as ICT training
programmes certified by Microsoft, SAP, Sun Microsystems, Oracle and
Linux vendors.
”Under this scheme, employers can claim up to 100%
of the course fee while other allowable costs such as daily allowances,
accommodation and transportation will be borne by the participating
employers,” Dr Subramaniam said.
He said that since the
allocation for the fund was limited, the number of employees entitled
would be one employee per employer based on a first-come first-served
basis with a target of 500 employees.
”The effectiveness of the
fund will be monitored through an impact study and an additional
allocation will be given if it meets its objectives,” he said.
He
said his ministry, through PSMB, was continuously extending assistance
to all employers in training and skills upgrading.
He said that
last year, the total amount of financial assistance approved for SME
employers was RM73.09mil involving 122,989 training places, representing
21.46% of the total RM340.65mil approved for all employers.
He
also said that in response to the global economic crisis in 2009, the
Government had reduced the rate of HRD levy from 1% to 0.5% effective
April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2011 under the Second Stimulus Package.
”This
reduction in the rate of levy is to assist employers to cushion the
impact of the financial crisis by lowering the cost of doing business.
“Therefore, it is forecast that employers would have insufficient
levy, which may slow down training and skills upgrading activities,” he
said. -- Bernama
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