Premium wage for TVET grads, not minimum wage, Zahid tells employers

KUALA LANGAT: Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) graduates must be given premium wages and schools should allow for early exposure to TVET, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He said that the minimum wage does not suffice as TVET graduates are highly skilled workers with specialisations in expert fields and should be appreciated by employers.

The Rural and Regional Development Minister said this in his welcome speech at the officiation ceremony of the National TVET Day by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at the Kuala Langat Industrial Training Institute here on Saturday (June 8).

Ahmad Zahid, who is also the chairman of the National TVET Council, said that with foreign investments looking for skilled workers, there is a need for TVET to be recognised as a valuable educational qualification.

“The government has spent RM6.8bil this year alone which has been channelled to 12 ministries which oversee the 1,345 TVET institutes nationwide. This seriousness was further seen when the game-changer of synchronising TVET applications was made which offered more than 4,000 courses,” said Ahmad Zahid.

He was referring to the UP_TVET system which was introduced in January this year to synchronise applications into TVET institutes under the purview of agencies of 12 ministries.

“There are 250,000 places for TVET applicants. For those who may not have done well in SPM, TVET is their saviour for a brighter future. The national average of employability of TVET graduates is 94.5%. The employability of TVET graduates under Mara and the Rural and Regional Development Ministry institutes is 98%.

“This showed that the potential for TVET graduates is high. Those who pass the Sijil Kemahiran Malaysia (SKM) Level 1 and 2 can further their studies in diploma courses at technical universities. Those at Level 3 and 4 can go for degree courses.

“The minimum wage is RM1,500 but TVET graduates who pass their SKM at Level 1 and 2 should get at least a RM2,500 starting pay. Those with SKM Level 5 should get RM4,000.

“I have done the comparison between the conventional education system and the TVET system. For the former, the 11 years of compulsory education. However, should TVET begin at the age of 15 will raise the bar for TVET training. The foreign direct investors need skilled workers for their industries,” said Ahmad Zahid.

He pointed out that the 1.6mil ehailing and phailing workers would also be reskilled and upskilled with TVET courses.

The Deputy Prime Minister also said that more is being done for tahfiz school leavers (huffaz), with more than a thousand already registered for TVET courses.

“The government is also aware of the need to develop TVET courses for huffaz and UniKL has offered aviation courses for huffaz. The result is 77 huffaz now have become engineers under this aviation programme,” said Ahmad Zahid.