SEREMBAN: About 80% of the 1.4 million government servants are eligible for full-pay leave to pursue technical and vocational courses for specified periods.

They will be allowed paid leave of up to a year for a certificate programme and 18 months for a diploma course without losing their seniority, annual increment and promotion considerations.

However, these must be technical and vocational courses under the SkillsMalaysia INVITE (International Technical Educational & Vocational Training Programme) announced under the Economic Transformation Programme.

To be eligible for the courses, they must be below 50 years old and have scored at least 85% in their annual appraisal for three consecutive years, said Public Service Department (PSD) deputy director-general Datuk Farida Ali.

She said those allowed to pursue these programmes would have to serve the Government for a period to be stipulated in their contract.

These civil servants are from the “implementers group” (once known as the support group) who were previously only allowed to go on half pay or unpaid leave to pursue higher education.

The implementers group refers to civil servants who are part of service schemes whose qualifications are a diploma or below.

“These employees will be allowed to pursue courses at any of SkillsMalaysia institutes and will also continue to receive their fixed allowances,” she said.

However, she said their critical services incentive allowance would be withdrawn during the leave duration.

This is a one-time offer and once their application is approved, a deferment will only be allowed on medical grounds.

Cuepacs president Datuk Omar Osman commended the programme, saying it was timely as it would produce civil servants with technical and vocational knowledge.

“We hope all civil servants will continue to give their best at work so that they can apply for this programme,” he said.

National Union of the Teaching Profession secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng, however, said the Government should ease the criterion of having to score 85% in the annual appraisal to apply for the course.

“A score of 85% is a bit too high. Some civil servants who score 80% are talented and should be given the opportunity to improve themselves. This will generate interest and motivation among the workers,” she said.

Health Ministry administrative assistant (clerical/operations) Noor Azira Arifin said she now felt encouraged to take up a baking course.

“This move is beneficial for career advancement and also for our own personal development. With a diploma or certificate, one can then proceed to get a degree or Masters' degree,” said the 28-year-old mother of one.

• Malaysia tycoon Vincent Tan plans IPO of football club Cardiff City
• Google, like Facebook, in talks to buy Waze for about US$1bil
• Crown selling entire 10% in rival Echo, partly owned by Genting(Update)
• First edition of 'Great Gatsby' to be sold at auction, can fetch US$150,000
• Malaysia leads the way in Basel III debt
• Markets face rough summer ride as Fed pullback feared
• Wall Street sags, HP hits 52-week high
• Commodities trader sues BP, Shell others for alleged oil price fixing
• Billionaire Icahn seeks up to US$7bil for Dell bid
• Google faces new federal antitrust probe
• Goldman Sachs unveils checks on conflicts in bid to fix tarnished image
• Air Asia's Tony Fernandes to ‘fire up’ investors
• Maybank bullish on growth, to expand regionally under new leadership
• Khazanah appoints Nor Mohamed deputy chairman
• Lafarge Malayan Cement to finalise next expansion plans by August

• British police arrest two men on diverted Pakistan flight (Updated)
• Britain scrambles fighter jets to escort Pakistani passenger plane
• 5,000 cave paintings discovered in Mexico
• Cars, schools ablaze in fifth night of Stockholm riots
• London's Heathrow airport closed after emergency landing
• Far East quake felt in Moscow, tsunami warning lifted
• Police make new arrests in London soldier killing
• Britain's press demands jailing of Islamist preacher
• Tsunami warning in Russia's Far East after 8.2 quake
• US bridge collapse sends cars, people into river
• Strong quake strikes off Tonga
• Jury fails to decide on US murderer death sentence
• One killed in Brazil giant fuel depot blaze

• British Open: Nicol David deals with disruptions for semi spot
• Kingston leads, McIlroy in Wentworth woe
• LPGA plans 12-hole rounds in water-logged Bahamas
• Ryan Palmer sizzles with 62 to seize lead at Colonial
• Kelly overcomes scare to clinch title in KLGCC
• Time to make amends Garcia wants to meet Woods to defuse racist row
• American Johnson back to defend Colonial crown
• Rain dampens debut of LPGA Bahamas event
• Tianlang adds another US event to schedule
• Clock ticking for next golden generation
• Nadal wants to create history at Roland Garros
• Serena out to tame French Open demons
• Zheng Jie stuns Wozniacki in Brussels
• British Open: Ramy Ashour racks up 38th successive win
• Nicol David sails into quarter-finals of British Open in 35 minutes

• Please wait.

• KL car number plates to bear ‘W1A’
• Air Asia's Tony Fernandes to ‘fire up’ investors
• Singapore GDP growth surprises, beats economists’ forecast of contraction
• Tian, Tamrin and Haris released after remand denied (updated)
• Malaysia leads the way in Basel III debt
• Inventions a-plenty, but no real innovation
• Robber shot dead after attacking out-of-uniform cop with meat cleaver
• Thousands throng thanksgiving rally by DAP
• EC: Photograph of ‘blackout’ on polling day was a lie
• Lafarge Malayan Cement to finalise next expansion plans by August