SIBU: Parents should not discourage their children from taking up technical courses and careers because there would be great demands for technical professionals in the state in the years to come, Minister of Environment and Public Health Datuk Sri Wong Soon Koh said.
“This will be more pronounced with the full implementation of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewal Energy (Score) by 2020.
“It will then need between 800,000 to one million workers and largely in the technical fields,” he said when presenting bursaries from Shell Malaysia to 64 students from various secondary schools in the state’s central region here today.
“Parents must change their mindset about their children future careers. With this anticipated demands, technical professionals can even earn more than managers although for the later, their positions may be more glamourous or prestigious,” he said.
He said currently in the country, only 28 per cent of its 11 million workforce were classified as skilled workers compared to 50 per cent each in Taiwan and Singapore and 75 per cent in Japan.
Earlier in his speech, Tom Wong, who is Shell Malaysia General Manager (Manufacturing, Shell MDS) said the company had invested close to RM140 million on scholarship programmes for the past 40 years to enable more than 2,000 young Malaysians to go for further studies.
“This year, we are giving away a total of 400 bursaries and 100 scholarships worth RM11 million to top students nationwide,” he said.
Among the recipients today were two Punan students, Jolanda anak Seli and her cousin Tricialuna anak Minsai, from the Punan Bah longhouse near Belaga town in the Kapit Division.
Both are Form Four students of the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Belaga in the area and their parents are farmers. – Bernama