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Skilled apprentices at VTC praised for positive attitude

Zero Chan

Nine outstanding apprentices won awards from the Vocational Training Council (VTC) for their hard work and effort to improve.

The 2000 Outstanding Apprentice/Trainee Awards scheme, in its seventh year, was organised by the Committee on Apprenticeship and Trade Testing of the VTC to commend young people who have joined the apprenticeship programme.

This year, more than 200 applicants in different trades were nominated by their employers for the award.

Committee chairman Cheung Kwok-kuen said apprenticeship was the most effective and economical way of training skilled technical employees who are capable of meeting the changing needs of their trades.

Mr Cheung said the apprenticeship scheme, designed for young people aged between 14 and 18, had produced over 5,000 well-trained technicians and craftsmen.

He said the VTC was planning to adopt a more flexible training approach and incorporate a competence-based end-of-training trade test.

Award-winner Anson Chu ing-chiu, 23, an electronics technician, has been working at the MTR Corporation since 1996. As a Form Five graduate, Mr Chu knew it would not be easy to build a bright career if he did not work hard.

'There are many university graduates in the economy. Those of us who lack academic ualifications need to add value o ourselves to compete with them,' he said.

Mr Chu said working at the MTRC provided him with practi cal experience and helped him become more mature.

He is now studying electronics and computers at the Institute of Vocational Education to pursue a higher diploma.

MTRC maintenance manager Tony Yeung Shau-on praised Mr Chu for his positive attitude and enthusiasm towards work.

'A company has different needs - we do not always need university graduates. We have found apprentices very committed to their work,' he said.

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