“The current system of employer-based training is important, but no longer enough,” noted NTUC Deputy Secretary-General and programme director for Skills Certification and Development Heng Chee How.
“Companies restructure all the time. They need new and better skills from their workers to compete. Workers also change jobs on their own, and will need new and better skills to move to better jobs.
“If you look at it from a company’s standpoint, you can always employ someone you need from the open market. So even if you don’t actively train your workers, you can solve your problem.
“But if you are a worker who, for whatever reason, is without relevant skills, you will not keep your job and no one will employ you. This is a terrible situation to be in.
“So we have to ask ourselves how are Singaporean workers going to get these skills,” said Mr. Heng.
Enabling the Individual
In line with this thinking, the NTUC has moved over the years to strengthen support for individual initiative in training. The NTUC-Education and Training Fund (N-ETF) is a concrete example of this.
The Fund allows union members to claim additional reimbursement on course fees when they go for certain types of approved training. The response has been encouraging.
The NTUC now wants to take the next step – the Individual Learning Account.
“We think it would be even better when workers know that there is a special sum of money in their name that they can use to train and upgrade themselves. It goes beyond having a subsidy scheme for course fees. We are designing a pilot to test the concept and iron out the kinks,” said Mr Heng.
The pilot will involve some 6,000 people, and will be launched in the first half of this year.
On the likely challenges to be overcome in such a scheme, Mr Heng explained: “There are two key hurdles. One is funding. And in particular, how employers and the Government can play their part. The other one is to have a good balance between having flexibility in choice of courses while minimising wastage. I want a scheme where the outcome is win-win for all parties.”
At the same time, it will work on making the administration of the system hassle-free and cost-effective, and also guard against abuses.
“With Individual Learning Accounts, each worker will know that his future is really very much more in his own hands. The self-reliant worker who has initiative will forge ahead of the others. We will help him succeed,” said Mr Heng.
