VELAN, 15-years-old, was often seen taking shelter under the bridge, dishevelled and unkempt. Finally, a good Samaritan took him in, gave him a meal and offered him clothes and a place to stay. Upon further investigation, it was found that Velan had been expelled from school and his parents were divorced and unemployed. It was then the good Samaritan heard of the MySkills Foundation, which offered a place to stay while Velan could have a second chance and be vocationally trained for a better future.
Many young teenagers today, due to circumstances beyond their control, find themselves in the same situation.
Bumi Mugunthan, Darshini Durai, Ariva Mariappan, Sangit Devar, Viveen Tamil, Shivanessh Kamal (all names changed) are young teenage girls and boys in vulnerable circumstances with a common storyline of broken homes, family disputes and possible expulsion from school due to poor grades. The young boys faced added dangers of gangsterism, drug addiction and alcoholism.
Realising the dangers, family members came to the rescue, applying to place them in the MySkills Foundation located at Kelumpang, Hulu Selangor. Those admitted to MySkills are usually 13-17 years of age.
Today, MySkills Foundation, the brainchild of its founders, sits on 12 hectares of land in Kalumpang, one and half hours drive from Petaling Jaya and with the main range as its backdrop, it is a serene campus for 170 students attending various vocational courses.
According to S. Pasupati, founder and one of the current directors of MySkills, who himself had a life full of challenges but, overcame them, successfully qualified as a barrister and went on to practise law in Malaysia.
“During my practice, the magistrate would refer many cases of juvenile delinquency to me for further action, where in view of the circumstances, it was felt these boys deserved a second chance instead of a jail sentence,” said Pasupati.
“The other aspect, which causes delinquency is dropping out of school, statistics from the Ministry of Education show that more than 20,000 children dropped out from school before completing their SPM either due to poor grades or inability to cope with the system,” added Pasupati and he felt strongly that another system, ideally a skills training programme such as vocational training could help provide jobs for these youth.
It was from these experiences that Pasupati decided to reach out and establish a place of learning and training for these troubled youth.
“When we first started MySkills in 2010, we rented a three storey building in Puchong, close to the Divine Life Society before moving to a refurbished bus terminal in Port Klang, which we rented and where it served as a hostel cum training centre as we conducted classes there," added Pasupati.
“In 2018, MySkills received a grant, and we purchased the land at Kelumpang, which allowed us to set up and build a more conducive place for the students. Today we have four main buildings, which are the administrative office, sports centre, hostels for the boys and more recently for the girls and a training centre, where there are facilities to teach welding, electrical wiring, plumbing, air-conditioning repair, farming and culinary arts. The girls usually opt for the legal secretary training where they receive on the job training from trained teachers and also build up their proficiency in English.
"There were many companies and organisations who came forward to assist in the funding of MySkills Foundation and the Sekhar Foundation headed by Datuk Vinod Sekhar contributed RM2 million towards the construction of the training centre and today, in appreciation, the building has been renamed the Tan Sri Dr BC Sekhar Centre for Skills and Innovation, in memory of his father who contributed tremendously to nation-building” added Pasupati, who still continues to practise as a lawyer in KL.
Devasharma, Chief Executive Officer at MySkills who has been with the foundation since its inception said in gaining entry to the vocational programme at MySkills, academic qualifications are secondary, and many enter without prior qualification but instead go through various modules of training.
“One of the key changes we aim for in the student is character transformation. Character transformation involves students acquiring good habits and discipline in the way they carry out their work and as part of their training, they wake up early as 5am and participate in the organic farming,” said Devasharma.
“The vegetables that are harvested are sent to the kitchen where the culinary arts students use them for their cooking as part of their training and it is a fulfilling experience for them as well," added Devasharma, who himself eats at the cafeteria when he is at the foundation.
When they finish the training, the students will be certified under the Malaysia National Vocational Certification, accredited by the Human Resource Ministry and then can go out to work in various industries.
According to Pasupati, the students are ready for work at age 17 when they usually join small medium enterprises or individual contractors.
“About 80-100 students are employed in various companies annually and we hoped more companies would employ MySkills graduates and recognise their vocational qualifications, so they can be gainfully employed,” said Pasupati.
As far as Pasupati is concerned, Malaysia is in great need of workers in the plumbing, welding and electrical sectors and instead of employing foreign workers, local workers would be better in order to reduce our dependence on foreign workers.
Apart from giving the students a second chance in life, it opened a whole new world of possibilities for them where they could transform not only their lives but also the lives of their families. – The Vibes, April 10, 2021
