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exhibitions, literature and talks in schools by professional men will help.
Much as we dislike to admit the fact, there has been little or no train- ing media at all provided to produce skilled building workers, except those "Chinese type" apprentices who follow their "masters" for a certain period and consider themselves "trained".
to
Our country's present training pro- gramme, if there can be considered to be any, is entirely inadequate. There must be a body of sufficient
the authority in
Government negotiate for funds and actions for extending training facilities. In every one of our States, there must be at least few well-equipped schools run by qualified men.
a
trade
The Technical College in Kuala Lumpur, the Singapore Polytechnic and the trade schools are doing a fine job, but without any facilities for training workers. The graduates of the K.L. Technical College are most- ly absorbed by the Government be- cause they seem to be moulded for such jobs. The Singapore Polytech- nic's contribution seems to be only the cream of the profession, and although the training is thorough and comprehensive, the strict entry re- quirements as well as the tough examinations have frightened away many a prospective student.
The remedy is not only to increase and enlarge the training institutions already in existence, but also to
create many more levels of training.
In addition to increasing the train- ing facilities in the Kuala Lumpur Technical College and those of the Singapore Polytechnic, we must pro- vide a certain level of training for "job site" foremen. This will absorb a large number of our School Certi- ficate youngsters.
Another level should be provided to create skilled workers from pri- mary school leavers.
We must also introduce a system whereby provision may be made for part-time and day-release training courses for apprentices, under which builders will have to release their workers, say once a week, to attend training classes.
Polytechnic's Contribution
It is very gratifying to learn that the Singapore Polytechnic, though still in its infancy is contributing a great deal to the building industry through offering excellent training for professional and technician build- ers, architects, engineers, quantity and land surveyors. The steps taken to- wards conferring degrees on the pro- fessional graduates and the recogni- tion by the Royal Institute of British Architects of her graduates in such a short time is indeed a great achieve- ment for an institution in the Com- monwealth.
The success of the Engineering Department is shown by the wide
acceptance of the engineering gra- duates both by the Government and private organisations. From what we know of the professional building graduates, and their work, it has been proved that the Polytechnic has achieved a very high standard for this course which has followed a modern and detailed syllabus aligned to the Institute of Builders, UK, and to the degree level ourses in univer- sities in England.
Bright energetic young men who have an ambition to become profes- sional men must be told about the challenging and interesting job with attractive propects waiting for them in the building industry. They may be attracted if they know that the professional building graduates from the Polytechnic are earning some- thing in the region of M$600 in their first year and jumping over the $1,000 mark after three or four years' service, a much better liveli- hood than our university graduates can make.
It is to be hoped that the Polytech- nic will also make provision for training more candidates for the semi-professional grades in the build- ing industry by easing the strict en- trance requirements and paving the way for a higher standard of worker.
This should be a matter of impor- tance and urgency. We can make the Singapore Polytechnic the hub of training for the Malaysian's Building Industry.
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Far East Architect & Builder June, 1965
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