February 08, 2011 19:11 PM

Prisoners Trained To Look For Jobs At JobsMalaysia

KAJANG, Feb 8 (Bernama) -- The Human Resource Ministry, with the cooperation of the Prisons Department, will train prisoners to use the job portal, Jobs Malaysia, as part of their preparation to return to society.

Deputy Minister Datuk Maznah Mazlan said that through this programme, prisoners would be able to find and get jobs easier and faster when they returned to society after completing their sentence. "After their release, there will be jobs waiting for them," she told reporters after signing a document of cooperation and statement of intent on the programme with the Prisons Department here Tuesday.

Maznah said the Human Resource Ministry was also studying new fields of training which were suitable with current development which could be offered to prisoners. The training would provide them, with new skills that could help them find jobs after their release, she added.

Meanwhile, Prisons Director-General Datuk Wira Zulkifli Omar said there were 35,892 prisoners in 39 prisons, including the Henry Gurney school and rehabilitation centres, in the country. Until now, 9,296 former prisoners had been offered jobs based on the various skills they took up while in prison, he added," he added. The skill training offered to prisoners include tailoring, furniture making, welding, cooking, landscaping and plumbering.

Between 1995 and 2010, a total of 1,898 prisoners received the Malaysian Skills Certificate and another 1,173 prisoners received the certificate issued by the Malaysian Construction Industry Development Board since 2004 until last year, he added. -- BERNAMA

Source: BERNAMA