Worldskills Asean Competition 2023 In Singapore: Malaysia Sends 25 Top Youth Talents

By Massita Ahmad

SINGAPORE, July 25 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has sent 25 top youth talents to the 13th WorldSkills ASEAN Competition 2023 which is taking place in Singapore for three days from July 23, according to Deputy Human Resources Minister Mustapha Sakmud.

Held at the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre, Mustapha said national participants are competing in 16 skill areas out of the 22 being contested.

"We are aiming for some gold medals in the fields where we are ahead of other ASEAN countries," he told Bernama today.

"So far all the participants are enthusiastic and highly motivated to win the gold medal," said Mustapha who is leading the national contingent.

Among the 22 skill areas that are being contested include automobile technology, mechatronics, refrigeration and air conditioning, cooking as well as hairdressing.

Mustapha said national participants who win this competition would be taken to the Asian level in Abu Dhabi and then to the world level next year.

"We want to raise the image of the country's Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). We want to tell the community that the TVET career path is wide open," he said. 

Mustapha said his ministry realised the perception of many that TVET is second stream.

"In my own experience conducting TVET, 95 per cent of those who go through TVET education will get a good job. There are even some whom I visited who have already become successful entrepreneurs.

"This is why we are trying to promote TVET as the main alternative for parents and the community. TVET can reduce the unemployment rate and we also don't want our students to drop out," he said.

Referring to reports of about 300,000 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) school leavers not wanting to continue their education, the deputy minister expressed concern but wanted them to see TVET as their career path.

Mustapha also visited the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) here to benchmark how the republic manages its TVET institutions.

ITE is a post-secondary education institution and a statutory board under the purview of the Ministry of Education in Singapore.

"We found that the ITE learning method is very interactive with the latest technology. Maybe we can apply this in Malaysia in managing our TVET institutions.

"I observed that the collaboration between ITE and industry is very close," he said.

He said it was also Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's mission to make the country's TVET institutions be driven by the industry.

Under Budget 2023, the government aims to sign 50 memorandums of understanding (MoU) with industry players for the country's TVET segment, by the end of this year.

He said the MoUs are collaborations between all TVET institutions, currently under 12 ministries, to provide the latest exposure in producing skilled workers.

“For now, we have signed MoUs with 24 companies and I hope we will achieve the target to have collaborations with all 50 industry players by the end of the year,” he said.

Commenting on his meeting with the Malaysian diaspora in Singapore organised by Talent Corp, Mustapha said there are 1.8 million Malaysians working around the world and 60 per cent of them are in this republic.

He noted that some of the diaspora expressed a desire to contribute back to the country in various forms.

"Some are trying to attract Singaporean investors to Malaysia and I also requested that they also try to bring investment to Sabah and Sarawak," he said.

Mustapha also advised Malaysians working abroad to register on The Malaysia@Heart platform.

It is a platform that provides various efforts to facilitate Malaysians working overseas to return home to serve the country.

Mustapha who is Sepanggar member of parliament also called on the Malaysian diaspora to fulfill their responsibility to vote in the six State Elections next month.

"Choose a good government that can take care of the country," he advised.

-- BERNAMA