Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Cambodia needs tech skill labour: PM

Cambodia needs tech skill labour: PM

Content image - Phnom Penh Post
Students at National Technical Training Institute (NTTI) attend graduation ceremony on February 27. SPM

Cambodia needs tech skill labour: PM

More quality, effective technical education and skills development are needed to deliver the talented workforce sought after by industrial investors, Prime Minister Hun Sen stated on February 27, as pundits asked the government to increase and enhance job-aligned vocational training options while improving the labour-market environment.

The premier was speaking at a graduation ceremony for more than 5,000 students of the National Technical Training Institute (NTTI).

Hun Sen stressed that demand for workers with advanced technical skills and knowledge will only keep growing, and cautioned that maintaining a broad-enough pool will be a sine-qua-non factor in successfully bringing in investors.

Cambodia will have to resolve these and linked issues before any of a number of German companies – whose representatives visited the Kingdom earlier this month, accompanying President Frank-Walter Steinmeier – potentially move ahead with plans to invest in the local automotive industry.

Royal Academy of Cambodia economics researcher Ky Sereyvath remarked that the Kingdom still lacks workers with adequate education and skills across a variety of sectors of advanced technologies and industrial manufacturing, whereas numbers are “growing a lot” in service fields with stronger job markets, such as banking and finance.

He suggested vocational training programmes in the former areas to overcome these shortcomings.

When it comes to the manufacturing of electronics, machinery, vehicles and similar items, “training in Cambodia is limited, given that there’s not much of a market, and students’ interest in learning remains lacklustre”, he said, recommending a vocational element in primary and secondary education.

MOST VIEWED

  • Joy as Koh Ker Temple registered by UNESCO

    Cambodia's Koh Ker Temple archaeological site has been officially added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List, during the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on September 17. The ancient temple, also known as Lingapura or Chok Gargyar, is located in

  • Famed US collector family return artefacts to Cambodia

    In the latest repatriation of ancient artefacts from the US, a total of 33 pieces of Khmer cultural heritage will soon return home, according to the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts. In a September 12 press statement, it said the US Attorney’s Office for the

  • Tina rebuffs ‘false claims’ over falling paddy price

    Agriculture minister Dith Tina has shed light on the trade of paddy rice in Battambang – Cambodia’s leading rice-producing province – in a bid to curb what he dubs a “social media fact distortion campaign” to destabilise the market. While acknowledging that the prices of paddy

  • Kampot curfew imposed to curb ‘gang’ violence

    Kampot provincial police have announced measures to contain a recent spike in antisocial behaviour by “unruly’ youth. Officials say the province has been plagued by recent violence among so-called “gang members”, who often fight with weapons such as knives and machetes. Several social observers have

  • Cambodia set to celebrate Koh Ker UNESCO listing

    To celebrate the inscription of the Koh Ker archaeological site on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, the Ministry of Cults and Religion has appealed to pagodas and places of worship to celebrate the achievement by ringing bells, shaking rattles and banging gongs on September 20. Venerable

  • PM outlines plans to discuss trade, policy during US visit

    Prime Minister Hun Manet is set to meet with senior US officials and business leaders during his upcoming visit to the US for the UN General Assembly (UNGA), scheduled for September 20. While addressing nearly 20,000 workers in Kampong Speu province, Manet said he aims to affirm