Full-time NSmen to get free access to over 75,000 online courses
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Full-time national servicemen (NSF) will get free unlimited access to more than 75,000 online courses from Nov 1 to better prepare them for work or further studies after national service (NS).
NSFs can sign up any time during NS and their account will be valid for two years.
Courses in about 135 categories will be available on the online learning platform. They include courses like Python Machine Learning for coding, management skills and digital photography.
Some courses will lead to credit exemptions at institutes of higher learning such as polytechnics and universities.
The initiative is a tie-up between the Defence Ministry (Mindef) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and NTUC LearningHub and the NTUC Employment and Employability Institute or e2i.
The SkillsFuture@NS Learning eXperience Platform will replace the existing Electronic Pre-Release Employment Programme, which was introduced in 2003 and offered 3,000 courses.
NSF Tan Aik Chong, 20, who enlisted in January last year, said he looks forward to honing his programming skills.
Now a lieutenant with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), he said he will sign up for courses before he starts school at Nanyang Technological University next year in computer science.
He said: "In computer science, knowing how to use programming code is important. The new platform will help me get a leg-up and keep up with my peers."
In a joint statement, Mindef and MHA said the initiative will enable NSFs to create and track their personalised learning journeys, with course recommendations based on their preferred jobs and newly acquired skills. It will also include an online database of resources and information from government agencies, industry partners and private education institutes.
There will also be SkillsFuture@NS career and education fairs held about four times a year for NSFs serving their last three to six months of full-time NS.
The new NS fairs - previously known as the Enhanced Career and Education Fairs - will also be expanded to include a wider range of prospective employers and education institutes. NTUC LearningHub will draw up the list of participating employers and education institutes based on the needs of NSFs and labour market trends.
135
Number of course categories on the online learning platform for full-time national servicemen. Courses include Python Machine Learning used for software coding, management skills training and digital photography.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, about 4,000 NSFs from the Singapore Armed Forces, SCDF and Singapore Police Force attended the SkillsFuture@NS fair, which was held at the Devan Nair Institute.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Senior Minister of State for Defence Heng Chee How said the new initiative underscored the importance of supporting NSFs in their transition to school or the workplace.
He said: "What we are trying to do is to create a platform that will be able to service and support all of our NSFs.
"It can potentially be of great value to all our servicemen on a lifelong basis in the areas of skills-upgrading, understanding the job market, seeking work and training."
