SkillsFuture to focus on reaching out to more Singaporeans this year

SINGAPORE — Improving its outreach to more Singaporeans is among the newly-formed SkillsFuture Singapore’s key priorities this year.

And with a skills mismatch and tight labour workforce among some of the challenges facing the economy, those who have been unemployed are one key group the agency wants to reach.

“The group of unemployed Singaporeans certainly is a pressing issue. And that’s an issue that we’re working very closely with Workforce Singapore on: Helping individuals to reskill, find new jobs,” said SkillsFuture Singapore chief executive Ng Cher Pong.

The agency, which leads the movement aiming to provide Singaporeans with opportunities to develop their potential throughout life regardless of their starting points, is concerned that many are still unaware of or unsure how to tap the available programmes.

One better-known aspect of the initiative is the SkillsFuture credits. But beyond that, other schemes include the Earn and Learn programme and the Skills Framework. Individuals can also apply for subsidies for classes to gain skills for career growth.

SkillsFuture Singapore plans to improve its engagement with both individuals and companies. It said in its latest update that around 380,000 Singaporeans benefited from programmes under the SkillsFuture movement last year, which is 30,000 more than in 2015.

Meanwhile, 920,000 training places have been taken up, around 11 per cent more than the 830,000 the year before. The agency counts this as one of its main achievements so far.

“We’ve made steady progress in SkillsFuture over the last one-plus year,” said Mr Ng.

“The steady increase in the number of training places supported by the Government that has been taken up, benefiting more enterprises, benefiting more individuals — I think we’ve made some success there.

“But also more importantly, SkillsFuture is about changing mindsets around lifelong learning and skills mastery — we’ve seen some shifts in the mindsets of enterprises and individuals,” he added, while noting that it is still early days, with a lot of hard work to do.

One person who has benefited from SkillsFuture offsetting his school fees is 3dsense Media School student Samuel Lim.

“It has really allowed me to learn important skills to follow my dreams and enter the film and games industry. Without it, I may not be able to further my studies to get a degree later on,” he said. CHANNEL NEWSASIA