Leading the way: (From left) HRD Corp chief programme officer Soffian Mohammed Amin, Sim, Human Resources Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee and Shahul at the soft launch of NTW 2024.
THE 2024 National Training Week (NTW) has got off to an early start following a soft launch last week by Human Resources Minister Steven Sim.
This year’s NTW will take place from June 24 till June 30 nationwide with free training programmes offered through the initiative based on five pillars – life skills, future skills, creativity and innovation, financial and sustainable development.
Building on the success of the inaugural NTW last year, the Human Resources Development (HRD) Corp has set a target of providing over 25,000 free training courses to 150,000 Malaysians nationwide.
Last year, NTW saw 21,473 training courses offered involving 129,312 participants and recorded 503,572 training hours.
It’s a feat that HRD Corp can be proud of as it was an inaugural event where it only set a target of 5,000 training courses for 125,000 participants involving 500,000 training hours.
But HRD Corp has outperformed itself with the support of its partners ranging from registered employers, trainers, training providers, academics, government agencies and the various ministries, as well as non-government organisations.
The training offered during the week included physical classroom, e-learning, remote online training and hybrid training.
Other ancillary activities included skills competition, open interviews, career talks and career coaching.
As a supporter of NTW, and a certified trainer, I have personally observed and followed closely the broad programmes initiated by HRD Corp.
In the case of the media industry, it has generously supported courses to upskill and re-skill journalists, especially on digital and social media skills.
Certainly, newsmen, like every worker, want to know how artificial intelligence (AI) will affect them and hope they can embrace AI skills.
The support of HRD Corp has helped media companies, which have understandably focused on revenue in an increasingly challenging business environment.
Such training provides career development opportunities, as well as the ability to provide better income to journalists.
It is important that HRD Corp continues to work with partners to provide more high value courses and programmes and, deliver high impact events and activities to all levels of Malaysians.
This is important for HRD Corp as the custodian of the nation’s human capital development efforts. For the past 31 years, it has worked hard to ensure every Malaysian employer and their employees are given sufficient support to up-skill and re-skill through the HRD Corp levy.
Given the large amount of levy it has collected, involving 82,00 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) out of 1.2 million employers, HRD Corp will always be evaluated by stakeholders, and rightly so too.
But NTW isn’t just all about workers and employers. It has always intended to involve Malaysians at all levels from all backgrounds, from students to retirees, across the nation. That has made NTW so special.
Last year, HRD Corp’s chief executive Datuk Wira Shahul Dawood, noted that beyond community-based learning and outreach, NTW partners offered some high value tech-based training programmes centred on AI and machine learning, data analytics, social media marketing and content creation that proved to be extremely popular amongst participants.
In fact, the top-10 courses from NTW were all in these key areas.
This is in line with industry demands and the prevailing view that “data is money”, and having the skills to extract and analyse data and turn them into actionable insights for crucial business decision-making is key.
Shahul also noted that HRD Corp has gone through a significant digital transformation journey in the past few years, investing into new technological solutions and infrastructure designed to improve the organisation’s efficiency and enhance stakeholder experience.
Having led the way in this area, he is pleased to observe its stakeholders moving in the same direction as reflected in the high value courses offered through NTW.
“We realised that efforts at the governmental and organisational levels alone are insufficient. We must encourage and inspire Malaysians to learn in order to improve their capabilities to earn.
“Training programmes offered must be aligned to what the market needs, and right now there is a strong need for digital technology and future skills.
‘’More than individuals, lifelong learning should be a collective culture that Malaysians want and will embrace. This is what the NTW is all about and we are pleased to have the support of our new minister YB Steven Sim Chee Keong to drive NTW this year,’’ he said at the soft launch of NTW 2024, last week.
The message from HRD Corp is that it wants Malaysians to know that nothing can stop them from seeking knowledge to upgrade themselves from cradle to grave.
Training is a necessity and not a luxury, and even though NTW is merely a week old, HRD hopes the ripple effect will continue to boost our lifelong learning aspirations and create a continuous culture for upskilling in the long term.
There’s also a target from the minister – NTW will be a launch pad for Malaysia’s training industry to develop Ivy League gold standards as well as put us on the path to be a regional training hub.
