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More immediately, it will ramp up training places from the current 20,000 a year to 80,000.
The Government will pump in a significant sum for this purpose, with the exact amount to be announced in the Budget statement on Feb 15, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong revealed yesterday when he opened a one-stop centre for jobs placement and training.
The Continuing Education and Training Masterplan aims to provide workers with first-class training institutions that offer high-quality, industry-relevant courses leading to national qualifications.
Whether they are from the rank-and-file or white-collar professionals and executives, they can choose from a buffet of courses spanning various industries.
'If we do this well, we will deepen the skills base of our workforce, help workers to respond quickly to changes in the job market, and sharpen the competitiveness of our economy,' Mr Lee said.
The Manpower Minister will announce more details of the masterplan during the Budget debate.
It was in the wake of the Asian financial crisis 10 years ago that the Government stepped up efforts in worker training.
The priority then was to retrain retrenched workers and help them find new jobs.
Yesterday, Mr Lee stressed that training should not be seen as a priority only in an economic downturn.
'Instead, continuing education and training should be a core part of the lifelong development of every worker. If we want Singapore to keep growing, then our workers too must be constantly upgrading,' he said.
He noted that Australia, Canada and European countries spend around 0.3 per cent or more of their GDP on worker training.
Singapore, in comparison, spends about 0.1 per cent or $200 million a year.
But it will top up its Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund, set up in 2001 to fund such programmes.
The fund has accumulated $2.2 billion so far, almost half its $5 billion target, and generated $88 million in interest income in the financial year up to next month.
Mr Lee said: 'We've had a good year. I expect the Minister for Finance to be able to make a significant contribution to the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund in the Budget.'
Turning to two broad principles of the Government's approach, Mr Lee said the training must cater to the needs of adult workers.
That means flexible, focused courses for people who have to juggle work and family commitments, as well as teaching methods that suit their learning style.
The Government will also work with the labour movement, private sector and training institutions, including mobilising the polytechnics and Institutes of Education, to provide courses for adult workers.
Labour experts and industry players told The Straits Times worker training in Singapore still needs to be improved.
Mr Jerry Lim of the Restaurant Association of Singapore said many restauranteurs have yet to come round to the importance of skills upgrading.
'They are having so much business, they are reluctant to let their workers take time off for training,' he said.
NTUC deputy secretary-general Halimah Yacob said there is a perception that many private training providers are not up to the mark.
'Sometimes, we get complaints from workers who have gone through the training and are upset with the whole process, from how courses are conducted to the way they are assessed eventually,' she said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KEITH LIN
