KKDW unveils three TVET programmes to equip rural youth with AI and tech skills

At the Expo TVET@KKDW 2026 in Sungai Besar, the Rural and Regional Development Ministry presented three strategic TVET initiatives. The Premium Career Agreement will require employers to set competency standards, placement rules and salary levels before recruiting trainees, aiming for better job matches and starting pay. TVET Jana Desa seeks to help graduates launch technical businesses that create jobs in their districts.

The Smart and Green Workshops will bring together trainees, instructors and industry partners to devise cost-saving technological solutions for rural entrepreneurs. These measures support Budget 2027’s goal of placing 1,000 Bumiputera youths in high-growth sectors and include a wiring-repair program for 20,000 needy households. The minister urged TVET institutions to ready themselves for future technologies, including quantum tech, and proposed a new Department of Quantum Technology at Universiti Teknologi MARA.