Taib (centre) signing PPKS’ 20th anniversary book. Also seen are (from left) Nansian, Baharudin, Aziz and Len. — Photo by Jeffery Mostapa
KUCHING: The Sarawak Industrial Education Foundation has been launched to help students with financial difficulties further their education at Sarawak Skills Development Centre (PPKS).
Head of State Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud launched the foundation during PPKS’ 20th anniversary dinner on Friday.
Taib praised PPKS for growing from a small training centre to an institution that has become the backbone of the production of trained human capital for Sarawak as the state heads into an industrial-based economy.
“Every year PPKS produces 3,000 students specialising in various technical fields and since its inception 20 years ago, the institution has produced 40,000 trainees with skills certificates and diplomas,” he said.
“The success of producing these trained human capital shows the dedication of the people who tried every effort in ensuring that the training method is suitable for the development of Sarawak.”
Taib stressed that the establishment of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) would create 500,000 jobs for skilled and semi-skilled workers, with 350,000 doing low- and medium-level jobs in various sectors of industry.
“I believe that we can equip ourselves towards Sarawak being an industrial state as we have high calibre workers and this will see us through and beyond 2030 as a developing and high income state,” he said.
PPKS chairman Tan Sri Datuk Amar Abdul Aziz Husain said the centre had produced competent workers with competitive skills, allowing foreign and local industries to invest in the state.
He revealed that 65 per cent of PPKS trainees were employed within six months of completing their studies, and 20 per cent continued with a higher level of training.
Aziz also thanked Taib, who is the patron of foundation, for donating RM100,000.
Among those present at the dinner were State Secretary Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohd Morshidi Ghani, Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office (Promotion of Technical Education) Datu Len Talif Salleh, Assistant Minister of Industrial Estate Development Datuk Peter Nansian Ngusie and PPKS executive director Datuk Baharudin Abdullah.
Currently, the centre has 370 staff members and is affiliated with various local and foreign institutions.