Legislative Council (LegCo) member Yang Berhormat Dr Haji Mahali bin Haji Momin proposed the creation of a national-level integrated effort and action that brings together various elements of workforce development, including investment, skills training, job absorption and entrepreneurship promotion under an integrated framework.

He said this during the second day of the Second Meeting of the 21st LegCo Session, addressing the issue on the lack of clear pathways for non-technical graduate participation in expanding sectors of halal, tourism, Islamic finance and the digital economy as the Manpower Blue- print places great emphasis on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and employability mapping, but still does not provide balanced support for non-technical graduates.

He added that EduStats 2022 does not provide any data tracking graduate employability, job placement rates or the suitability of fields of study for jobs and the absence of a post-graduation assessment system makes it difficult to comprehensively plan workforce policies.

He also proposed a directionless transition to national placements and the development of an annual placement dashboard that is transparent and based on real numbers where this dashboard should be able to continuously track the number of jobs created, the number filled by local workers and progress statements by the economic sector.

Not only can this approach assist in policy impact assessment but also form a culture of delivery towards an open data system allowing all parties, citizens, academics, policymakers and investors to participate in the process of monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of policies. “Data transparency is the basis for corrective action, improvements based on reality not assumptions,” Yang Berhormat Dr Haji Mahali said.

(News source: Borneo Bulletin)