IPOH: Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi hopes Malaysia’s TVET education ecosystem will produce more skilled and professional workers to meet the needs of industries supported by multinational companies (MNCs) investing in the country.
He said these jobs should be filled by Malaysians trained under the TVET system.
“On behalf of the National TVET Council, I would like to thank Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for increasing the TVET allocation to RM7.9bil in the 2026 Budget, compared to the previous year.
“With this, we aim to further strengthen TVET education modules focused on robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), automotive and other high-skill fields,” he told reporters after officiating the Ekspo TVET@KKDW 2025 on Saturday (Oct 11).
Ahmad Zahid said this was to meet the demand for skilled workers, especially from foreign investors in areas such as Kulim Hi-Tech Park, the proposed Silicon Valley in Kedah and the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone.
He stated that of the RM7.9bil TVET allocation, approximately RM45mil would go to the National TVET Council, RM1.3bil to Education Ministry institutes, RM3bil to the Human Resource Development Corporation (HRD Corp), and RM650mil to the Skills Development Fund Corporation.
It would also be distributed about RM34mil to the Department of Skills Development (JPK), with the rest going towards upgrading facilities and building new TVET institutions.
In his speech, Ahmad Zahid also said that Deputy Minister of Rural and Regional Development Datuk Rubiah Wang will be the chief delegate to the WorldSkills Asia 2025 competition in Taipei this November.
He added that Malaysia won 13 gold, four silver, and three bronze medals at the WorldSkills Asean 2025 in Manila. The competition brought together top youth talents from the Asean member countries to showcase their technical and vocational skills.
“Most of these gold medals were won by our students from GiatMara, Institut Kemahiran Mara, Mara Japan Industrial Institute and UniKL,” he said.
