Vocational Interest and Skills Training among Female Orang Asli Youth

2.  Reaching into the new millennium, the field of
education is an important agenda in the life of every
individual (Ismail, 2002).
 The need for Technical and Vocational Education
(TVE) among Orang Asli (Aboriginal people)
communities is important to ensure that they can
compete in the era of globalization in order to enjoy
a comfortable life and a better standard of living.
 However, many youth including the female of the
Orang Asli community are still unemployed or did not
have a steady job. It is well known that the female of
Orang Asli were mostly married and became a house
wives at a very young age.

3.  The government was aware of the problems faced by
Orang Asli and has made a number of strategies to assist
Orang Asli communities.
 One of the government's strategy is to raise the economic
status of Orang Asli communities and to provide them
financial assistance (Abdul Talib et al., 2003).
 However, such provision could only solve the problem for a
short term only. Therefore, one of the ways that the
suggestion by the government is to provide assistance in
terms of training and skills courses to Orang Asli
communities to become independent to generate their
own income (JHEOA, 2003).
 This includes teaching female Orang Asli a diverse skills
needed such as sewing, making handicrafts, cooking and so
on to increase their income and help improve the
economic status. Through technical and vocational
training, Orang Asli communities will receive training in
practical and applied in the world of business or
employment (Junekh 2007).

4.  There are 2 training centers provided by the
DOAD to assist female Orang Asli youth in
enhancing their skill in specific areas.
With the skills acquired through the training,
this Orang Asli youth will be able to run their
own business someday (Husnorhafiza and
Norasmah 2009).
 Paya Bungor Training Centre in Kuantan,
Pahang is an accredited center in the course
of women's clothing maker level one and
two. Another training centre is for a male
Orang Asli youth which located in Damansara
Damai.

5.  The latest number of Orang Asli in Malaysia is
about 178,197 (DOAD, 2011). Indigenous
community is a minority group which is 0.5
percent of Malaysia's total population.
 Orang Asli communities have a number of
tribes. It is divided into three largest groups
of Negrito, Senoi and Malay Proto and was
broken down into 18 small tribes (Wijnen,
2006; Nicholas, 2000).

7.  TVE was defined by UNESCO (1989) as a
comprehensive term referring to the
educational process when a general education is
offered along with the study of technologies and
related sciences and the acquisition of practical
skills, attitudes, understanding and knowledge
relating to occupations in various sectors of
economic and social life.
 DOAD policies also cater to less academic
achievers in the form of vocational training and
technology-based advanced vocational training
centers. Institutions that offer such program
provide training from basic to advanced levels.

8.  The Skills Development Fund caters to these
institutions and provides financial assistance to
poor students in particular.
 Within 4 years a total of 486 Orang Asli female
youths have successfully completed and acquired
a Level 1 certificate in tailoring from the
National Vocational Training Council (MLVK) at
the Paya Bungor Training Centre.
 The Damansara Damai Training Centre in Sungai
Buluh has successfully trained a total of 912
Orang Asli youths in automotive repair and
maintenance. It is also to enable them to
compete with others in the job market.

10. The requirements to apply :
 Orang Asli female candidates who are interested in
such terms and conditions set forth below can report
on the appointed day. Age must be 15 years old on
the day of registration. For an academic
qualification, they must pass in SPM, can read and
write fluently and pass in Mathematics.
 The female Orang Asli youth also must have interests
in sewing and embroidery. They should be healthy
mentally and physically. They also will be provided
with incentives or allowance courses etc.
 Specific requirements are they must be Orang Asli
according to Act 134, the Aboriginal Peoples Act 1974.

11.  1. to strengthen administration at the school, district education
office, state education department and ministry level;
 2. to put elements of basic vocational education in lower
secondary schools;
 3. to reduce the dropout rate of Orang Asli students by 6 per cent
each year;
 4. to increase the intake of Orang Asli students for the Bachelor
of Teaching Special Programme;
 5. to improve the infrastructure for Orang Asli education;
 6. to strengthen collaboration with strategic partners;
 7. To create a performance detection system for schools and
Orang Asli students.

12.  The participation of Indigenous students
especially the female Orang Asli youth in the
technical and vocational education is still low.
 Various attempts have been made to increase
female Orang Asli youth participation in this
country such as by increasing the number of
Vocational Colleges and skills training institutes
which aimed to provide individuals with certain
skills to help them to obtain jobs.
 Technical institutions and skills centers were
established to provide opportunities Indigenous
students, who lack the ability in the academic
field to acquire specific skills so that they can
gain employment and free themselves from the
trap of poverty.

13.  However, if we look to at the information
obtained from the Division of Education in the
State of Pahang in 2007, the number of Orang
Asli students pursuing education in STS and the
SVS is very small at eleven percent (11%) in 2006
and seven percent (7%) (DOAD, 2012).
 However, a study conducted by Wan Mahiswandi
(2001) on vocational education needs of
Indigenous youths found that Indigenous youths
have had a high level of knowledge about
vocational education.
 It is therefore important for a student to know in
advance of their interest so the knowledge will
help them to choose and identify the suitable
field.

15.  Low knowledge of vocational education
among female Orang Asli students can be
seen that the majority of female Orang Asli
students are not able to identify the type of
skills that are offered in vocational schools.
 According to Swee Hock (1971) in
Noorazlina (2006), the knowledge of the area
should be known in advance by the student
to ensure that the selected field does not
differ from their interest and need. This is a
job of counselors at the school to explain
more about TVE to their students.

16.  This assertion is supported by (Zakaria, 2005)
which states that career path should be framed
in the lower secondary school level to enable
students to better understand where their
direction immediately after completing training
in the education of school.
 Opportunity to pursue their studies at higher
level should be simplified. This is important to
provide greater opportunities for students to
choose training course of their interest.
Therefore, it is important for female Orang Asli
students to obtain sufficient knowledge of
vocational education offered technical secondary
school in the country.

17.  More training skills should be conducted for female
Orang Asli youths, especially for primary and
secondary school leavers to equip them with the
necessary skills.
 Students of the female Orang Asli community needs
to be offered assistance and encouragement to enroll
in the institutions of higher learning and skills
training centres like polytechnics, community
colleges and Pusat Giat MARA.
 In addition, the number of vocational courses in
training centres managed by JHEOA need to be
extended to cover areas of forestry, construction,
home-stay program management, tailoring and
handicraft. The existing training centres at Paya
Bungor and Damansara Damai needed to be upgraded
in the Ninth Malaysia Plan to accommodate more
trainees.

18. THANK YOU