MUST gets $9M boost

This was disclosed yesterday by Minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education Mustapha Abdul-Hamid who explained that the growing and continuing demand for construction workers led Cabinet to approve the expansion of the Multi-sector Skills Training (MUST) programme.

Abdul-Hamid said this would allow the employment of a further 100 training instructors, which Cabinet also approved yesterday.

“The total capacity of the MUST programme will be 6,400 trainees per year (after the expansion),” he said at yesterday’s post-Cabinet media briefing.

The MUST programme is a collaboration between Government and private construction companies, aimed at providing training in skills necessary for the construction, tourism and hospitality industry. It was established in April 2004.

The Government provides instructors for every batch of trainees and assigns them to a contractor, to work alongside skilled labourers, thereby developing their own competence, Abdul-Hamid explained. Trainees are provided with safety gear and a $60 stipend a day.