RETRAINING PROGRAMMES (Participation rate of workers)

Mr Harun A Ghani asked the Minister for Manpower what is the progress of various retraining programmes and whether the participation rate of workers in need of upgrading their skills is satisfactory.

The Minister for Manpower (Dr Lee Boon Yang): Mr Speaker, Sir, we have a wide range of retraining programmes to help different groups of workers to upgrade their knowledge and skill. The Skills Redevelopment Programme (SRP) is one of the key programmes to provide unskilled and low skilled workers with training leading to national skill certification. The focus of the SRP is on skill upgrading to enhance employability of the workers. SRP support is extended to companies that send their workers for the modular skill training programme by the ITE, which leads to the Certificate of Competency, NTC3 or NTC2 certification or for certificate programmes conducted by the polytechnics.

Sir, as at end October, the total number of workers committed for training under the SRP stood at 10,500. This is more than half of the target of 20,000 workers that the NTUC aims to achieve by the next Labour Day. Of this number, over 2,800 workers have completed their training and another 3,300 workers are currently undergoing training.

Participation of workers in the SRP has been boosted as a result of the sector-driven approach that has been recently adopted by the NTUC. In the hospitality sector, 59 hotels have signed up to retrain a total of 2,000 workers. These workers would have been vulnerable to retrenchment, but the SRP provided an opportunity for hotels to upgrade their skills at affordable cost during this lull period. The SRP for the marine sector was launched just this month, with 13 companies committing 500 workers to be trained. The SRP for a third sector, telecommunications sector, will be launched next month, and another 500 workers are expected to be retrained. The NTUC plans to launch the SRP in at least another 12 more sectors.

As a result of the economic downturn, many companies have cut back on their training budgets. Despite this, the number of workers being scheduled for training under the SRP has been growing at an encouraging pace. This is an indication that the SRP is making good progress, and has contributed to preserving jobs and making workers more employable during these difficult times.

An important feature of the SRP is that whenever possible, training plans are worked out with the participating companies for their workers. This is critical to the success of the SRP as many workers lack the basic secondary education, or even basic literacy and numeracy skills, to qualify for training leading to skills certification. For this group of workers, SRP support is extended for retraining programmes such as the Basic Education for Skills Training (BEST) and Worker Improvement through Secondary Education (WISE). Training under these programmes will continue to help workers to gain certifiable skills.

The BEST and WISE programmes are important segments of our retraining effort. BEST was introduced in 1983 to equip workers without any formal qualifications to PSLE level in English and Mathematics. To-date, the programme has reached out to 216,000 workers. The 1998 enrolment figure is 22,000 which is about the same as the 1997 enrolment. WISE was launched in 1987 for workers to upgrade English and Mathematics to GCE `N' level. Since its launch, the programme has reached out to 130,000 workers. The 1998 enrolment figure is 16,000 which is over 1,000 more than in 1997.

Sir, I would like to highlight the progress of worker training supported by the NTUC Education and Training Fund (N-ETF), which was launched on 1st October this year. The Government is providing a grant of $9 million to the NTUC to match funds of $3 million being raised by the labour movement. The NTUC Education and Training Fund supports the training of union members who may not be able to benefit from training support by their employers but are prepared to invest in their own skills upgrading. The target set by the NTUC was to train 10,000 workers in the first year. As at end-October 1998, NTUC has already received 2,600 applications. This is an indication that there is strong interest in retraining among the union members.

Sir, in conclusion, there is a range of retraining programmes in place aimed at various segments of the workforce, including those who do not have any formal qualifications. Despite the economic downturn and reduction in companies' training budgets, the enrolment figures indicate that these programmes have continued to maintain a healthy level of participation. My Ministry will continue to encourage and support participation in these programmes as part of the initiatives to enhance the employability of our workers.