KOTA KINABALU: A total of 7,200 people in Sabah have been trained and certified under the National Dual Training System (NDTS) since 2008.
According to Skills Development Department director, Mohd Azmi Pelah at a certificate presentation ceremony for 12 trainees under Stella Beauty Salon and Spa yesterday.
A total of 434 companies are involved with NDTS and a total of 63,697 trainees have been certified under NDTS involving a total of 3,923 companies nationwide.
This year, a total of 34 training supervisors have taken part in the NDTS programme involving 440 trainees and 26 programmes such as automotive, aquaculture, music, plantation, tailoring, computer networking, food and beverages service operation, beauty, makeup, hair and reflexology, he said.
Last year, a total of 954 trainees were trained under NDTS.
He added that under the NDTS, trainees were required to undergo 70 to 80 percent of hands-on practical training at companies involved in the industry they were trained in while 20 to 30 percent of the course period were spent on theoretical learning at their training centre.
“NDTS is aimed at creating K-Workers where workers possess technical competency, learning competency and social competency. It operates based on intelligent partnership between the industry and the government and is expected to be able to address the issue of expertise mismatch that has been raised by the industry,” he said.
Mohd Azmi said that based on a research done, about 95 percent of employers and employees have positive perception about the marketability of NDTS holders while 95.2 percent of employees and employers have positive perception about the capability of NDTS holders.
“This is a proud achievement as the percentage of acceptance is very high,” he said.
He also said that the employment rate for NDTS holders was 80 percent and that in Sabah, the courses that were most sought after by trainees were those related to the tourism and hospitality sector.
He also commended the manager of Stella Beauty Salon and Spa, Stella Matuya for her hard work in organising the courses under NDTS.
Meanwhile, Mohd Azmi said a total of 13 service schemes involving the National Skills Certificate qualification were recognised by the Public Services Department.
“This enables holders of the certificate to apply and be offered to work at the civil service in Malaysia,” he said.
He also said holders of the certificate would not be treated at par as Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) holders when they are offered jobs with the civil service.
“Their salary scale will be three steps higher when compared to fresh SPM graduates,” he said.