By Norrasyidah Arshad
KUALA SELANGOR, March 11 — A total of 30,000 new job opportunities across various sectors were generated in Selangor last year as a result of the impressive RM55.3 billion investment recorded by the state.
Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari said despite facing the twin crises of Covid-19 and major floods in recent years, Selangor was still able to offer jobs that meet market demands.
He said chiefly, the state government is actively focusing on preparing programmes and enhancing institutions related to technical and vocational education and training (TVET), in line with current needs.
“For instance, we created the Selangor Technical Development Centre (STDC) to focus on TVET empowerment,” he said during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Piala Dato’ Menteri Besar Selangor debate competition, here, yesterday.
“This is in anticipation of Selangor becoming a developed state and to meet local demands and human capital requirements.
“This institution (STDC) ought to be further enhanced through various strategies, including skills development, to meet the needs of the country and state,” he added.
STDC, which was rebranded from Inpens International College (Inpens) in August 2020, is part of the state government’s initiative to realise the Education Excellence Agenda (Agenda Pendidikan Unggul) under the 2020 Selangor Budget.
Last week, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) announced that Selangor has recorded an overall investment of RM55.3 billion in 2023, surpassing its target of RM45 billion.
According to data from Mida, the manufacturing sector witnessed a significant year-on-year improvement, with investments totalling RM19.3 billion last year compared to RM12.2 billion in 2022.
Meanwhile, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia was crowned champions of the Piala Dato’ Menteri Besar debate competition for the higher education institutions category, taking home a cash prize of RM8,000.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) finished second while Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia secured third place, respectively winning RM5,000 and RM2,000.
