THE government needs to examine the effectiveness of all the rural development programmes to ensure they were relevant and meet the needs of the current target group, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said yesterday.

Zahid, who is the minister of rural and regional development, said the percentage of the population living in rural areas had decreased from 70% in the 1960s to 30% today.

“It means there is social vertical mobility and horizontal mobility, where there are relocations, urbanisation, their social status has evolved through education and so should the ministry’s agenda remain static or stagnated?

“Those who are in the suburbs should be dealt with, those in rural areas should be engaged, because they need communication, infrastructure, TVET, education… we should make all programmes relevant to the tastes of the target group, not to the tastes of the minister, because ministers come and go,” he said last night.

Zahid also touched on the importance of ministry co-ordination in Technical Education and Vocational Training (TVET) programmes to avoid duplication and ensure cost-effectiveness.

Zahid, the TVET co-ordinating committee chairman, said that there were now 11 ministries offering TVET programmes with the same goal, leading to duplication.

“Is this cost-effective? Let’s get over blaming the ministry and ministers that came before, we should move forward on how the social structure and social illnesses involving youth should be overcome. – Bernama, February 1, 2023.