Change may be on the horizon for national initiative Skillsfuture, as a new CEO was announced by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Friday.
Ng Cher Pong, currently Chief Executive Officer of the
Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), will take up the role of Chief Executive Officer of SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) under the Ministry of Education (MOE), when the new statutory body is established.
Alongside Pong’s role as CEO of SSG, he will also be appointed Deputy Secretary of the SkillsFuture programme at MOE.
Two new statutory bodies – SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) under the Ministry of Education, and
Workforce Singapore (WSG) under the Ministry of Manpower – were announced by the MOM in January to help “drive and coordinate implementation of the national SkillsFuture initiative, as well as ensure competitiveness and quality jobs for Singaporeans over the long-term.”
Tan Choon Shian, currently Principal and Chief Executive Officer of
Singapore Polytechnic (SP), was also announced as the new Chief Executive Officer of WSG upon its establishment.
The SkillsFuture programme is part of a national movement to “provide Singaporeans with the opportunities to develop their fullest potential throughout life, regardless of their starting points,” according to the Skillsfuture website.
Lim Swee Say, Minister for Manpower, reiterated the government’s commitment to the programme last week, speaking at the 2016 G20 Labour and Employment Ministerial Meeting in Beijing, China.
“Under [the] nationwide SkillsFuture initiative, we aim to inculcate in our people the mindset of lifelong learning, from pre-employment education to in-employment training,” he said.
“Human capital is and will continue to be our most valuable asset. We are determined to enhance the lifelong employability of our workers, helping our people to adapt and grow, and prevent any potential widening of job-skill mismatches as we move faster into the future.”
