Charting Malaysia’s future workforce via national training index, says Sivakumar

PETALING JAYA: The National Training Index (NTI), a new initiative measuring training activeness and activities among Malaysian industries, has been launched by the Human Resource Development Corporation (HRD Corp).

Officiated by Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar on Tuesday (Sept 5), the NTI, developed by HRD Corp, is also the first of its kind in the South-East Asia region.

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With the NTI being the maiden index to measure training and development in the region, Sivakumar hoped it would set the gold standard for regional counterparts to emulate.

”Understanding the training maturity levels of industries, types of training available in the market and the quality of offered programmes, present a full picture of Malaysia’s needs.

“It also develops a keener understanding on how to take our talents and workers to the next level.

“The NTI is the perfect initiative to help us achieve this aim. It not only standardises and streamlines the way we measure training effectiveness and activities but also sets benchmarks for industry players,” Sivakumar said in his speech.

He said indicators used in the NTI are designed to encourage industry players to invest in their people and provide more learning and development opportunities to meet industry and business needs.

“It forms the basis for determining the organisations’ own training activeness as measured against their industry peers,” he added.

Insights gathered through the NTI, Sivakumar said, allowed the Ministry to formulate policies and implement initiatives to ensure the Malaysian workforce is equipped with the relevant skills required by the global market.

“We can create targeted programmes to ensure more Malaysians can participate in the labour market and become capable, productive and highly skilled members of society,” he added.

HRD Corp chief executive officer Datuk Shahul Dawood said the NTI gave a greater picture of key strengths and areas for improvement.

“It also provides us, the Human Resources Ministry and Malaysian government, with comprehensive insights into the issues, challenges and opportunities in nurturing our workforce and talents.

“As an industry-led framework, I am confident that the NTI will be a game-changer for the local industry players and workforce.

“This is because it shows respective training activity levels as measured against their counterparts and shows them whether they are ahead or lagging behind,” Shahul said in his speech.

This is assessed through three dimensions; Fire Preparedness, Workers Skills Development and Training Provider Effectiveness and 19 indicators.

The NTI scores are in the range of 0.00 to 1.00 and categorised into four levels, Leader (0.76 to 1.00), Experienced (0.51 to 0.75), Adopter (0.26 to 0.50) and Beginner (0.00 to 0.25).

The ratings differ in terms of the sectors’ training activeness, presence of structured training, availability in providing proper environment and training capacities, types of training plans and materials as well as training allocations.

Findings from the maiden NTI Report 2022 meanwhile found that Malaysia achieved a 0.70 overall rating, putting the country firmly in the experienced category.

It, however, noted that the nation still lacked the number of employees attending certification courses, technical and practical hands-on learning as well as low enrollment in recognition of prior learning programmes.

Among individual sectors, the Manufacturing, Services as well as Mining and Quarrying sectors are in the Leader category with a rating of 0.98, 0.85 and 0.77 respectively.

The Construction and Agriculture meanwhile had a 0.44 rating while the Forestry sector recorded 0.48, putting both in the Adopter category.

Also present at the launch were Human Resources Ministry secretary-general Datuk Zaini Ujang and HRD Corp chief strategy officer Rony A. Gobilee.