WE REFER to Madam Tan Poh Geok's letter, 'Help professional women retrain to rejoin workforce' (ST, June 2).

We would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused to Madam Tan. We will ensure that it does not recur. A career consultant has been in touch with Madam Tan to better understand her training and employment needs, so that we can assist her in her pursuit of skills upgrading.

We would like to take this opportunity to clarify that the Skills Development Fund (SDF) is an employer-based funding system to encourage them to send their workers for training.

The Surrogate Employer Programme (SEP) assists employees who want to make a switch to another industry or to upgrade their skills within their industries.

The Workforce Development Agency (WDA) has developed many worker-based programmes to help individuals such as Madam Tan, who do not currently have an employer. Workers can also sign up directly for training at subsidised rates with institutions offering Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) programmes in various industrial sectors, including retail, culinary, tourism and health care.

There are 19 Continuing Education and Training (CET) Centres set up by the WDA and another 215 training organisations accredited to deliver WSQ programmes.

Workers can receive up to 90 per cent funding support for training.

We wish Madam Tan the very best in her efforts to upgrade her skills, and to rejoin the workforce.

Sim Soo Kheng (Ms)

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Jun 13, 2008