Adult and Non-formal Education

In addition to providing training to school leavers, the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) offers training courses to help working adults upgrade their skills. ITE’s training for working adults covers two broad areas–skills training and worker education.

For skills training courses, ITE offers three broad-based technical training programmes. These are the: Modular Skills Training (MOST), Training Initiative for Mature Employees (TIME) and Adult Co-operative Training Scheme (ACTS). MOST is a national programme for working adults who wish to acquire new skills or upgrade their skills. As a part-time programme, MOST offers a range of 138 NTC-2 (National Technical Certificate, Grade II level), NTC-3 and certificate competency modules grouped under thirty-six skills areas. The training places for MOST in 1996 totalled 13,700. TIME enables workers aged 40 years and above to take up NTC-3 courses, conducted in six-month modules. A total of 400 training places were taken up in 1996. ACTS is aimed at working adults 20-40 years old with few or no skills. The scheme is conducted in the apprenticeship mode, comprising on-the-job and off-the-job training. A total of 300 training places were taken up in 1996.

Under work education, ITE provides courses to help working adults improve their academic foundation, in order to help them improve on their jobs or take up skill training courses. The Basic Education for Skills Training (BEST) course enables working adults to acquire basic proficiency in English and Mathematics up to the Grade Six of primary education. In 1996, a total of 20,800 training places were taken up. The Worker Improvement through Secondary Education (WISE) enables working adults who have completed their PSLE or the BEST programme to take the GCE N-level examination in English and/or Mathematics. A total of 16,200 training places were taken up in 1996. In addition, ITE offers part-time continuing education programmes from the first grade of secondary education (Normal Course) to GCE N-, O- and A-level. The intake for academic classes in 1996 was 12,400.

The ITE works hand in hand with employers to enhance the quality of Singapore’s workforce. Companies with the necessary infrastructure in terms of training curricula, facilities and staff, are given the Approved Training Centre (ATC) status by ITE. ATCs train their employees and apprentices and test them for ITE certification. There were seventy-three ACTs at the end of 1996, with an intake capacity of about 6,500. Companies also provide on-the-job training to their employees through the Certified On-the-Job Training Centre (COJTC) System. Under this scheme, companies plan, schedule and conduct training programmes that are tailor-made to the specific needs of their workers, with ITE providing assistance and auditing the quality of the programmes. By the end of 1996, a total of 320 companies were certified as COJTCs.

The Ngee Ann Polytechnic, a Government-funded institution, also serves as a continuing education centre for working people who wish to improve or update themselves in their work-related areas and fields of interest. In 1996, the polytechnic’s Continuing Education Centre conducted a total of 74 short courses, with an enrolment of 3,414 students.

In 1996, the literacy rate (residents aged 15 years and over) was 92.2%.