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The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, today (August 7) visited the Cheung Sha Wan Retraining Resource Centre of the Employees Retraining Board to see the services and operation of the centre and better understand the needs of trainees.
Accompanied by the board¡¦s Executive Director, Ms Rebecca Pun Ting-ting, and the Principal of the Hong Kong College of Technology which is responsible for operating the Centre, Dr Chan Cheuk-hay, Mr Cheung talked with some trainees of a domestic helper course and offered them words of encouragement.
He then toured the resources section and met some users at the cyber practice zone. He stressed to them the importance of lifelong learning and the need to better equip themselves to meet the needs of a knowledge-based society.
¡§One of the greatest challenges facing Hong Kong's labour market is to tackle structural unemployment brought about by economic restructuring. The Government will continue to assist the unemployed in re-joining the labour market and enhance the skills of our workforce to meet the changing demands of the market as well as employers,¡¨ Mr Cheung said.
He was pleased to learn that many trainees had re-entered the job market after attending the board¡¦s retraining courses. The board provides about 100,000 training and retraining places a year and the average placement rate of its placement-tied courses was more than 80%. The major retraining courses included security and property management, domestic help, personal and elderly care, and catering and tourism training courses.
Mr Cheung then visited the board¡¦s Practical Skills Training and Assessment Centre where trainees undergo skill tests. The skill assessment was introduced as a system of quality assurance to gain greater recognition from employers and the public.
"The board is conducting a strategic review on its current operation and scope of services as well as its future role and responsibilities. The review is expected to be completed by the end of this year. The Government will carefully consider the outcome of the review and decide how best to further enhance our training and retraining efforts and increase the competitiveness of the local workforce," Mr Cheung said.
Ends/Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Issued at HKT 18:01
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