Home Team training programmes to be accredited under national credential system

Mr Ng Cher Pong, chief executive of Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA). PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - Courses run by the Home Team's own academy, Singapore Prison Service and Immigration and Checkpoints Authority training schools, will soon be given the national stamp of approval under the Workforce Development Agency 's (WDA's) national credential system.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the WDA on Wednesday to facilitate this.

The courses include one for prisons officers and a home team leadership programme for junior officers.

The collaboration will allow Home Team officers to "achieve operational effectiveness" as well as "benefit from the national recognition their training courses carry", said MHA's deputy secretary T. Raja Kumar, who is also the chief executive of the Home Team Academy.

The Workforce Skills Qualifications credential system will ensure that the quality of Home Team training programmes is maintained at a high standard, said the statement from both parties.

The Home Team's training institutions will also be accredited under the memorandum. This follows the accreditation of the Singapore Civil Defence Force's Civil Defence Academy in 2014.

WDA's chief executive Ng Cher Pong said the credential system provides individuals with "industry-validated training to acquire skills and competencies that are in line with employers' workplace needs".

He added that the collaboration will provide greater recognition of officers' capabilities as they serve to safeguard Singapore's security.

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