For months, aspiring baker Maria Rahmat wanted to attend more courses, but the lack of funds prevented this jobless Singaporean from fulfilling her dream of becoming a full-time baker.
She has remained unemployed since quitting her $1,400 a month sales coordinator job in May. That was when the two youngest of her four children contracted hand, foot and mouth disease. They have since recovered.
Since then, Madam Maria and her cabby husband Asmar Noordin Asmar, 34, who live in a four-room Toa Payoh flat, have been relying on his $1,500 monthly income.
But she was excited yesterday when told of the new measures announced to help unemployed lower-skilled Singaporeans like her upgrade themselves through the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (Spur).
Under Spur, they will get a 90 per cent subsidy - up from 80 to 90 per cent currently - when they sign up for Workforce Skills Qualification and other nationally certifiable courses at any Continuing Education and Training centre.
Also, depending on a case-by-case assessment, applicants who need to acquire higher skills can also qualify for a $4 hourly training allowance that they receive while on course.
They can apply for the courses at community development councils or the NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute in Bukit Merah.
Madam Maria's immediate reaction to the news? 'It's great! That means I can afford to attend baking courses.'
Since leaving her previous job, she has only managed to attend a week-long baking course at Siti's Delights, a school and bakery set up by Ms Siti Mastura to equip retrenched job seekers with viable skills.
The course was fully sponsored by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore.
But other unemployed lower-skilled Singaporeans interviewed had reservations about Spur.
Madam Fatimah Abdul Razak, 49, who has been jobless for five months after leaving her job as a factory operator, said she is keen to get training so she can work as a kitchen helper.
But she will have to fork out money for 10 per cent of the course fees. She sighed: 'No job, how to pay for it?'
This article was first published in The Straits Times on November 22, 2008.
