New Straits Times - 800 vocational training centres deregistered |
Written by Administrator |
Thursday, 10 September 2009 15:03 |
KUALA LUMPUR: In an ambitious move to produce skilled Malaysians, the Government approved the opening of 1,908 public and private vocational training centres. Another 200 of the 1,108 public and private institutions, currently offering about 6,000 MLVK programmes to about 100,000 students nationwide, may face the same fate. Bleak prospects for 525 students without certs PETALING JAYA: A one-year course that extended to three years, and exams with answers provided. These were among the experiences of 525 students who had enrolled for the National Vocational Training Council (MLVK) programme in 2001 and 2002 in the Ansted Skills Centre branches in Klang, Kapar and Kuala Lumpur. Four years later, they have yet to receive their Malaysian Skills Certificate. The reason: The centre closed down in 2004. {mosimage} Kalyani Kumaran, 25, said their information technology (IT) courses were supposed to be conducted over the span of one year but had to be extended because the lecturers had returned to India. "When we complained, we were told the course had to be extended as there were no lecturers. So we attended classes but all we did was chat and fool around," she said. V. Selva Murugan, 22, said: "Classes for us then became a playground." Since there were no lecturers, Kalyani said they were all given answers for all the exams conducted. Selva said: "Naturally, all of us scored 100 per cent in all our papers. Now, even if they award us with certificates we would not know what to do with it. If we secure jobs using those certificates, the bosses would assume we would know how to carry out the job, when in fact we don’t know anything as we only had proper classes for six months." With no certificate, and each having paid RM5,000 in fees, the students claimed they were now in a fix as they were being hounded by the Skills Development Fund (SDF) from which they had obtained loans. "Those of us who have secured jobs did it using our SPM certificates," Selva said. "The centre never awarded us our certificates so how are we to repay our loans?" The students also claimed the centre had helped them apply for loans from the fund and they were asked to open personal accounts at Bank Simpanan Nasional. Upon enquiring with the centre two months later, they found the loans had been deposited directly into the centre’s account. Wanting their money back, the students took their problem to the National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC). "We don’t want to be blacklisted," said B. Murali, 22. "To get the loans, we needed guarantors and mine were my neighbours. Now, they are receiving letters demanding the money back as well and our relationship has been damaged." Mohana Sinnan, 22, and her brother Kugan Sinnan, 25, who had enrolled at the Kapar Ansted Skills Centre, claimed they were supposed to study for a year but had classes for only two months. "Our classrooms had no computers and electricity. When we asked why there were no classes, they kept saying ‘tomorrow, tomorrow’ but it has now been three years," said Kugan. NCCC manager Darshan Singh said it had constantly received reports on MLVK courses and hoped the Human Resources Ministry would monitor institutions offering such courses more closely. "In this case, instead of helping improve the students’ futures, the centres have made them debtors."
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National Consumer Complaints Centre | |||||||||||
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