Never Too Old To Learn

Mr Mohammad Bin Gelan seems to revel in the opportunities that life throws at him. The 63 year-old has had quite a colourful career, from working on a ship for almost his entire career to plying his trade in the construction industry.

Drifting from job to job, Mohammad came to a point where old age was catching up with him and he was finding work hard to come by. He however felt he had more to give and wished he could do more. And if only he was trained in something new, his job prospects could improve.

With this simple desire, Mohammad attended a job fair where he was interviewed and then introduced to programmes at his local Community Development Council (CDC)’s Career Centre, where he could enrol in a host of courses to upgrade this skills.

Overcoming Obstacles

One of his greatest barriers to finding a better job was Mohammad’s language skills, particularly how he had always struggled with the English language.

Explaining his predicament, Mohammad said: “I needed a job to support myself. But a lot of jobs were not suitable for me. I was not very confident and I could only do simple things or just follow simple instructions. If you showed me how to do something, and I follow and do it repeatedly, I can learn to do it. But without any help, I can’t do much. So, my job options were limited.”

Mohammad signed up for the Workfare-Skill Up programme in April 2011, where among other things, there were Literacy Training Programmes that provided low wage workers with basic literacy training in reading, listening and speaking in English, based on the Employability Skills (ES WSQ) framework. 

Mohammad could not be happier with the prospect of finally overcoming his handicap. He recalled: “I’ve not had much education but I’ve always liked to learn. I guess you can call me a late bloomer. My English was very poor, I couldn’t say much and I only knew how to write a little. But now, I can finally have proper lessons to improve my English.”

A New Beginning

The Workfare-Skill Up programme enabled Mohammad to pick up skills that would lead to him landing better jobs. Mohammad went through different classes and workshops to improve his reading and writing skills, and was even introduced to using a computer, which he had not done before. Besides equipping him with new skills, the CDC also helped linked Mohammad with suitable job opportunities and he eventually landed a job as a security officer.

Although still not entirely comfortable with speaking in English, Mohammad is glad that he had taken the plunge to enrol with the CDC and the Literacy Training Programmes.

Mohammad is all smiles as he recalled how the simple act of going for re-training and improving his proficiency in the language could make such a massive difference in his life. When asked if he would take up any other courses at the CDC in the future, he laughed: “I’d like to, but first I would have to improve my writing, then we’ll see.”

Workfare-Skill Up is a structured training programme to give low-wage workers a stronger foundation in basic literacy so that they can continue with workplace skills training and enhance their ability to take on better jobs.

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