Manyin (left) presenting a diploma to one of the graduates at the convocation ceremony.
KUCHING: Between 80 to 90 per cent of vocational or polytechnic school graduates are employed within the first six months after finishing their training while their counterparts from public universities are having trouble find jobs, said Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Dato Sri Michael Manyin Jawong.
He thus urged parents and members of the public to get rid of the perception that skills training is only for those who do not excel in their academic studies.
“This has been the perception of the public and of parents as even today people would only choose academic fields,” he said during the convocation ceremony for Malaysia Vocational College (Kolej Vokasional Malaysia) under the Education Ministry here yesterday.
Manying pointed out that for the Industrial Revolution 4.0, it is skills that will move the country forward adding it’s your knowledge in dealing with the industries that will propel us forward.
“The situation has changed. A lot of industrialised countries today have 50/50 enrollment for academic and vocational fields. For us, it’s less than 15 per cent. This showed that parents still prefer their children go for academic qualification,” he lamented.
Manyin also advised the graduates to learn how to get along with other people as studies show that people lose their jobs not because they do not have the technical know-how or skills, but because they can’t get along with other people. This is what you have to learn which is work as a team.
Malaysia Vocational College held its Sarawak Zone convocation ceremony here yesterday, the first of a nationwide series of ceremonies.
At the event, 1,152 graduates from various fields of studies like business and hospitality, mechanical technology and information technology received their scrolls.
Also present was the Education Ministry’s technical and vocational education
section director Zainuren Mohd Nor.