XN000022-1980-12-15 — Page 2

MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1980

EXPERTS ON APPRENTICE TRAINING MEET IN HONG KONG

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THE APPRENTICESHIP ORDINANCE HAS BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN INCREASING THE NUMBER OF YOUNG PEOPLE UNDERGOING PROPER APPRENTICE TRAINING IN HONG KONG FROM ABOUT 2 000 IN 1976 TO OVER 10 000 THIS YEAR.

THIS WAS DISCLOSED BY THE COMMISSIONER FOR LABOUR, MR J.N. HENDERSON TODAY WHEN HE OPENED THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE EXPERT MEETING ON APPRENTICESHIP SPONSORED BY THE ASIAN AND PACIFIC SKILL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (APSDEP) OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR

ORGANISATION.

THE FOUR-DAY MEETING-HOSTED BY THE LABOUR DEPARTMENT AT ITS TRAINING COUNCIL DIVISION HEADQUARTERS - HAS BEEN CONVENED TO STUDY A REPORT ON APPRENTICESHIP IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC PREPARED EARLIER IN THE YEAR BY THE VOCATIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL TRAINING BOARD OF SINGAPORE.

ATTENDING THE MEETING ARE DELEGATES FROM AUSTRALIA, INDIA, JAPAN, NEW ZEALAND, SINGAPORE, SRI LANKA AND TWO REPRESENTATIVES FROM HONG KONG.

MR HENDERSON TOLD THE DELEGATES THAT PROPER APPRENTICE TRAINING WAS A PROMINENT COMPONENT OF HONG KONG'S MANPOWER TRAINING SYSTEM.

+ INDEED A MAJOR PART OF OUR EFFORT IN UPGRADING OUR MANPOWER IN THE LAST TEN YEARS HAS BEEN IN THE PROMOTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF APPRENTICE TRAINING AS THE PRINCIPAL MEANS OF TRAINING CRAFTSMEN AND TECHNICIANS, HE SAID.

THE INITIAL EFFORT, MR HENDERSON POINTED OUT, WAS ON GAINING BY PERSUASION THE ACCEPTANCE OF EMPLOYERS OF THE CONCEPT OF GOOD APPRENTICE TRAINING AND OF AN APPRENTICESHIP SCHEME RECOMMENDED BY THE LABOUR DEPARTMENT.

THE GOVERNMENT IN 1976 ENACTED, ON THE ADVICE OF THE HONG KONG TRAINING COUNCIL, THE APPRENTICESHIP ORDINANCE, WHICH, SINCE THEN, HAS BEEN THE CORNERSTONE FOR ORGANISED APPRENTICESHIP IN HONG KONG.

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+ IT HAS PROVIDED AN EFFECTIVE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE TRAINING OF YOUNG PEOPLE TO BECOME CRAFTSMEN AND TECHNICIANS IN TRADES VITAL TO HONG KONG AND ASSISTED TO ENSURE THAT OUR FUTURE CRAFTSMEN AND TECHNICIANS WILL NOT ONLY BE COMPETENT IN THE SKILLS OF THEIR TRADES BUT ALSO WELL-VERSED IN THE TECHNOLOGY RELEVANT TO THEM, HE SAID.

IN HIS SPEECH, APSDEP DIRECTOR, MR RONY V. DIAZ, SAID THE PROGRAMME WAS KNOWN A SHORT TIME AGO AS THE ASIAN REGIONAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME -- ARSDEP. BUT IN ORDER TO REFLECT THE INTEREST OF THE COUNTRIES OF THE PACIFIC, WHICH ARE ALSO WITHIN THE PROGRAMME, THE NAME WAS CHANGED TO APSDEP.

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/APSINE WAS ..........