Pakatan Harapan said free education is imperative to address a lack of critical thinking skills desired by employers among graduates hunting for jobs. — Picture by Choo Choy MayKUALA LUMPUR, October 25 — Tertiary education will be free to everyone within 10 years if the Pakatan Harapan (PH) pact succeeds in taking control of Putrajaya in the next elections.
The federal Opposition pact made the pledge in its alternative Budget 2018 today, saying such a policy was possibly as it would conduct “a full audit and study on cost, wastage and corruption factors in all public universities”.
“Pakatan Harapan believes in free public education for all. The provision of free public university education is an ideal that we must achieve within 10 years of taking over government.
“Further, we need to help our graduates increase their employability and wages. To do this, Pakatan Harapan will place greater emphasis on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET),” it said.
The Opposition alliance of PKR, DAP, Parti Amanah Negara and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia said free education is imperative to address a lack of critical thinking skills desired by employers among graduates hunting for jobs.
PH also said it would also expand the Penang government’s German Dual Vocational Training (GDVT), launched in 2015, into a nationwide programme.
It said that while the ruling Barisan Nasional administration’s Education Blueprint has identified TVET as a priority area, there are few resources for apprentice programmes.
“Under this programme, host companies are given funding to conduct on-the-job training for selected TVET students who can then go on to obtain jobs in the same companies or the same sector,” it added.
Source: Malaymailonline
Comment: Much that I laud PH’s pledge in its alternative Budget 2018 for free higher education in 10 years time should they come into power but saying that there are limited resources for apprentice programmes are not true. The government has allocated & spent quite a lot (I don’t have the figure but I can feel it as an industry player) to implement the National Dual Training System (NDTS) via the Department of Skills Development, Ministry of Human Resources. Nevertheless, it could have been better if leakages/corruption were to be minimized.
So, what’s NDTS & why NDTS? Well, that deserve another post 🙂
