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Saturday, October 21, 1972
APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING MAKES PROGRESS
Progress made by the Apprenticeship Training Unit of the Labour
Department has been encouraging so far, according to Mr. H.R. Knight,
Senior Training Officer (Apprenticeship).
This summer, he said, 750 suitably qualified school-leavers took
up technician and craft apprenticeships.
Of this number 625 became apprentices to firms in the major
industries while 125 took up training in government departmenta.
Of those in industry, 150 took up technician and 475 craft
apprenticeships, an increase of 50% over last year's figure. Of them 425
were placed through the efforts of the Labour Department.
During the year, another 42 firms started proper apprentice
training along the lines of the apprenticeship scheme proposed by the
Apprenticeship Unit of the Labour Department. The total number of firms
now running the scheme stands at 122, representing all the ten major
industries.
The proposed apprenticeship scheme has the support of the Chinese
Manufacturers' Association, the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, the Hong
Kong General Chamber of Commerce as well as a number of the major trade
organisations.
However, Mr. Knight said there is no room for complacency.
"We still have a long way to go before we can claim that sufficient
numbers of technicians and craftsmen are being trained to satisfy industry's
needs. The numbers being trained certainly pale against the estimated annual
demand of about 2900 technicians and 9700 craftsmen," he said.
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