PUTRAJAYA, Oct 22 — The National Anti-Drug Agency (AADK) will introduce Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes to its clients next year to boost their marketability and reduce the risk of addiction.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said they would begin with pioneer projects at several narcotics addiction rehabilitation centres using a RM1 million initial allocation.
“Clients at the centres will receive rehabilitation and treatment modules, and there are some researchers from symposiums with the view that TVET programmes are a suitable need to be implemented.
“At the government level, this idea has been presented to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also National TVET Committee chairman, and it has been agreed upon,” he said.
Saifuddin was speaking at a press conference after the close of the 2025 National Drug Addiction Science Symposium today, with AADK director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh in attendance.
He added that the programmes would provide AADK clients with the opportunity to obtain accredited skill certificates and allow them to return to the job market after their rehabilitation.
“Like skill training models at prisons, we see this approach successfully reducing re-addiction rates. So, AADK will head in this direction, and it is expected to begin early next year,” Saifuddin said.
Besides the TVET programme, the one-day symposium also adopted four other resolutions, including the implementation of an evidence-based Anti-Drug Communication Plan, a mass movement as an integrated national strategy, the expansion of voluntary treatment and rehabilitation, and technology-based enforcement.
The minister stressed that the resolutions will serve as the basis for drafting his ministry’s new policies to strengthen the national drug prevention and rehabilitation plan.
“Drugs remain a threat, and curbing drugs remains a number one priority. We have never shied away from that commitment,” he said.
