HK youth work programme has made 23,000 more employable
Being a tour co-ordinator these days requires more than introducing the sights, organising meals and handing out air tickets.
In almost two years in the business Chan Ka-ho, 21, who was helped into the job through a government training scheme, has had to perform tasks as diverse as teaching people to use their key cards and entertaining a big tour group with a song.
Mr Chan obtained a full-time job as junior tour co-ordinator last October after attending a series of workshops under the Youth Work Experience and Training Scheme and a year of on-the-job training in the travel industry.
'It would have been difficult for me to enter the industry without such a programme,' said Mr Chan, who achieved seven marks in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination and now earns $6,000 to $7,000 a month. 'You need to either have job experience or academic achievements.'
The scheme, launched by the Labour Department in 2002 and aimed at making poorly qualified young people more employable, has arranged on-the-job training for more than 23,000 people aged 15 to 24 with below-average educational achievements.
Yesterday, Mr Chan and another graduate of the programme, Janice Lo Shuk-ping, demonstrated their new skills as they guided a group of journalists to Stanley.
