Kota Kinabalu: The State Government, through the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (KSTI), helped some 15,554 youths get jobs this year.
State Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Yakub Khan said the Ministry has implemented various initiatives and programmes to reduce the unemployment problem among school leavers.
“Among these is the Sabah Talent Entrepreneurship Programme (Step) under the Human Resource Development Department JPSM),” he said in reply to a question by Silam Assemblyman Dumi Pg Masdal at the State Legislative Assembly sitting, here, Tuesday.
He said three Step programmes participated by 60 school leavers and youths had been conducted.
“This programme aims to produce youth entrepreneurs who can create more new job opportunities, and indirectly reduce the youth’s dependency on government and private sector jobs.”
Through the Pitchborneo programme, Yakub said, KSTI has successfully produced 1,300 entrepreneurs to date.
He said 112 of the entrepreneurs also received donations to develop their ideas and products (RM20,000 per company).
“Aside from that, JPSM has also offered 15 types of TVET (technical and vocational education and training) to school leavers. Similar courses are also conducted by various other agencies such as Mara and Polytechnic.
“The Ministry has also implemented long-term skills training courses aimed at helping the target groups, namely youths, B40 and job seekers,” he said.
He said 90 participants enrolled in the divemaster, rigging and slinging (advance) and blaster painter Level 1 and 2 courses and the shipping course, adding 39 course participants have successfully found employment.
Yakub said the Ministry had also implemented the Hospitality Engagement Learning Programme (Help) with selected five-star hotel chains. So far, 13 trainees have been offered jobs at Shangri La Rasa Ria Hotel, Tuaran.
“The Ministry also carried out 11 series of Career Carnivals with Socso throughout Sabah. A total of 1,390 people have been offered jobs through this programme.
“In addition, JPSM has held face-to-face open interviews at JPSM headquarters here. To date, two open interview series have been implemented and 16 people have been employed.”
Yakub said the Government has also set up the Sabah Jobs Portal (JPSM) and MyFutureJobs (Socso) platforms as job search platforms.
“A total of 4,634 job seekers and 170 employers are registered on the Sabah Jobs Portal, while a total of 84,078 vacant positions have been advertised from 6,712 employers through the MyFutureJobs portal.”
Upskilling courses, he said, were also offered by the Sabah Skills Training Centre (SSTC). A total of 533 participants in this programme have found employment.
In addition, SSTC has trained a total of 1,014 youths for skills improvement programmes such as retail management, welding, palm oil supervision, drone technology, entrepreneurship and so on.
Digital creative programmes were also conducted through the Sabah Economic and Innovation Creative Centre (Scenic).
“Ten students were successfully absorbed into several animation companies and 11 people were trained to improve digital literacy in the Ratu Tech programme with Capital A Venture Berhad.
“Scenic collaborates with various agencies such as Sosea, MyHarapan and Yayasan Hasanah in raising the social enterprise (SE) ecosystem,” he said.
The Government, Yakub said, also conducted upskilling and ICT literacy through AMC College.
“A total of 33,198 youths were trained in the college throughout this year through 149 courses.”
Yakub also said short-term entrepreneurial skills courses were also conducted in all state constituencies.
“A total of 147 courses were implemented involving 3,082 participants.”
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