THE government will review the budget allocated for the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programme and its transformation. 

Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran said more than RM4.5 billion is spent yearly for the programme but it remained under capacity. 

“We want to have economics of scale. There must be returns on the money that you spend,” he said at the ministry in Putrajya after meeting Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar and representatives from Gabungan Bertindak Malaysia. 

“For example, right now, it is under capacity, so we want to do away with that.” 

He said among the factors driving students away from TVET was that there was not much opportunity for them to move forward academically. 

“But in Germany, TVET students can even do the PhDs. We want to empower TVET here to that extent,” he said. 

Nurul Izzah, who, on June 21, was charged with heading a committee to revamp the Education Ministry’s TVET programme, said the first step for reform was engaging stakeholders. 

“I don’t want people to fear or feel we are not listening to them or that we know better. 

“We have to participate in an engagement process with the stakeholders,” she said today, adding this process would take about two months. 

She said although some considered TVET a “Pandora’s box”, cooperation from various parties was crucial to ensure the programme’s structure is sound. 

The committee aims to prepare a report on how to improve and upgrade the programme. 

However, National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) recently said that a special body was needed to monitor the implementation of TVET policy. 

NUTP President Kamarozaman Abd Razak said despite the formation of the TVET committee, a special body was necessary to provide its views as well as advise the committee. – June 25, 2018.