KUALA LUMPUR: All human capital and skills development programmes will now be placed under the Human Resources Ministry with the Human Resources Development Corp (HRD Corp) acting as the central agency in a rebranding exercise.

       “This will help the government provide more cohesive, structured and efficient talent development that can boost the recovery of Malaysia’s post-pandemic economy,” said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob during the launch of the new identity and name for HRD Corp, formerly known as Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF).

       He also announced the first national single window platform called UpskillMalaysia.

       It will be led and managed by HRD Corp, the first national single window platform that has hosted over 200 programmes in 35 skills areas funded and offered by 28 ministries and agencies.

       Ismail Sabri said the agency’s role had become more important in the past 18 months when it introduced various programmes to protect existing jobs and create new opportunities for Malaysians.

       These included skills training and income generating programme Penjana HRDF which was introduced in June 2020 and had helped almost 100,000 participants through five main schemes.

       HRD Corp has also introduced free online training hub e-LATiH, which now has 154,000 registered students and an enrolment of 400,000 in more than 400 training courses.

       HRD Corp continued to strengthen its main function of collecting levies and distributing funds for skills training programmes by registered employers, having distributed almost RM420mil last year for skills training programmes involving more than 416,000 workers.

       Ismail Sabri said levy collection this year was expected to hit RM680mil, and part of it had been used to train 500,000 workers, in line with the extension of HRD Act 2001 which resulted in employers registered with the agency increasing from 33,000 to 65,400.

       Also present at the event were Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan and HRD Corp chairman Datuk Seri Jamil Salleh.

       Saravanan said the transformation of HRDF into HRD Corp came at the crucial period in the organisation’s history, as HRD Corp has been tasked to ensure no Malaysian is left behind with more opportunities.