ENG-1974 — Page 69

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EMPLOYMENT

At its first meeting in November 1973, the training council decided to set up 10 industry training boards to deal with the training problems of the 10 major industries— automobile repairs and servicing, building and civil engineering, clothing, electrical, electronics, machine shop and metal working, plastics, printing, ship-building and ship repairs, and textile. The council also set up five committees to handle matters common to more than one industry, such as apprenticeship, instructor training, technical training in institutions, translation of technical terms and vocational training. By the end of June 1974, all the industry training boards and committees had been appointed by the government. The entire training council complex is serviced by the industrial training division of the Labour Department.

The training boards and committees have been active. All have identified and defined the technologist jobs in their respective industries, a job level previously out- side the purview of the ITAC. To up-date the manpower requirements of their indus- tries, the Automobile Repairs and Servicing Industry Training Board, the Shipbuilding and Ship Repairs Industry Training Board, the Electronics Industry Training Board and the Machine Shop and Metal Working Industry Training Board conducted man- power surveys during the year.

In July 1974, the training council decided to take the first steps in extending its investigations to the commercial and services sectors and recommended to the govern- ment the establishment of an ad hoc committee on training in commerce and the services. The council also set up a sub-committee from among its members to look into the problems of technologist training generally.

A milestone in the training of craftsmen and semi-skilled workers was the appoint- ment by the Governor of the Provisional Construction Industry Training Authority in June and the Provisional Clothing Industry Training Authority in July to pave the way for the eventual establishment of the statutory authorities to administer respec- tively the contributory training schemes for these two industries. These training authorities would be empowered to impose a levy on the total contract value of all building and civil engineering works and total export value of clothing articles to establish and run training centres to provide basic training in key building trades and training for garment-making machine operators in the clothing industry.

In the field of prevocational and vocational training, a number of centres offering training in technical, commercial and catering trades are run by voluntary welfare organisations and the government.

In addition to the existing Morrison Hill Technical Institute, four more technical institutes are being built or planned. The two at Kwun Tong and Kwai Chung will start courses in September 1975. The remaining two at Cheung Sha Wan and San Po Kong are expected to be completed in September 1976 and 1977 respectively.

The industrial training division of the Labour Department also continued with its work of encouraging and assisting employers to set up proper apprenticeship schemes for training craftsmen and technicians. This year 13 more firms have started apprentice training in the shipbuilding, electrical, electronics, plastics and textile industries.