79 pct of BeST 2.0 apprentices secure permanent jobs

KUANTAN: Fifty out of 63 graduates or 79 percent who participated in the Bio- Agrotech and Bio Pharmaceutical Career and Entrepreneurship (BeST 2.0) apprenticeship programme run by the Malaysian Bioeconomy Development Corporation (Bioeconomy Corporation) managed to secure permanent jobs in the fields of modern agriculture and bio-pharmaceuticals.

He said 39 out of 46 of the apprentices got jobs in the agriculture and aquaculture sector while 17 out of 15 in the biopharmaceutical field, with both numbers exceeding the key performance indicator (KPI) targets set in 2021.

“We collaborated with private companies to supply graduates who are skilled, knowledgeable and have relevant work experience in the industries while enabling companies to receive a workforce that meets their requirements and have the required academic citena and qualifications.

“Through BeST 2.0, Bioeconomy Corporation not only matches employers with the workforce, but we also want to produce highly skilled, technologically literate, highly motivated entrepreneurs and meet the needs of modem industry,” he said in a media statement here today.

Mohd Khairul Fidzal said modem agriculture and bio-pharmaceuticals were given priority in BeST 2.0 because these fields play an important role in ensuring food safety and public health, especially with the outbreak of Covid-19, besides also involving the use of modem technology applications.

BeST 2.0 is also seen as able to increase youth involvement in the modem agriculture and bio pharmaceutical industries as well as reduce dependence on foreign labour in line with the government’s aspiration to produce a skilled workforce of locals, especially among the youth,

The BeST 2.0 programme was approved by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) under the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) and is supported by the Ministry of Agnculture and Food Industries (MAFI).

-Bernama