In a move, considered necessary and vital by many in the industry, plantation companies seeking to hire foreign workers have been instructed to first provide Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to Malaysian youths.
The Plantations and Commodities Ministry of Malaysia stated that this new requirement applied to all companies in the sector’s upstream and downstream operations, as part of efforts to develop local talent and reduce the dependency on foreign labour.
The ministry noted that Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) school-leavers with good results can enrol into higher-learning institutions, matriculation programmes and so on but many cannot pursue further studies and have to opt for TVET.
The ministry stated that the plantation industry involved a wide range of economic activities and palm oil, for example, includes milling, refineries and chemicals, are areas where trained TVET graduates can find jobs.
The strategy to be executed by the ministry is to enroll school-leavers with limited prospects in plantation TVET programmes, and after eight or nine months of Level 2 TVET training, they can be placed directly into suitable jobs.
However, the findings of the ministry is that many industries including rubber, timber and furniture industry players were reluctant to hire them after training and this is why the present ruling of hiring locals first has been introduced.
-THE MALAYSIA VOICE