Information Zone - Press Release

Press Release

To : News Editors
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Employees Retraining Board (ERB) today (5 January 2007) organized the 11th Employers Gold Star Award and Outstanding Retrainees Award Presentation Ceremony at Olympian City 2. It was the first time for the event to be held in a shopping arcade so as to boost publicity and to share with the public the achievements of the Employees Retraining Scheme through the support of various sectors. The Board Chairman, Mr Michael Tien, Vice Chairman, Dr Ng Tat Lun and other Members, together with the awardees and over 200 representatives from various sectors attended the Ceremony.

"Despite further improvement in Hong Kong economy, it is still difficult for those unemployed who are middle-aged and less educated to get a job. The ERB is unceasingly exploring new retraining courses including healthcare massage, domestic services and hotel services in order to create more employment opportunities for the unemployed with lower educational level." The Board Chairman Mr. Tien Puk-sun said in the Ceremony.

Mr. Tien believed that people is the most valuable asset of Hong Kong. Those who had not benefited from higher education could still be good talents as long as they were provided with suitable skills and their potentials explored and developed. At the same time, employers' support was also of vital importance for the development of the Employees Retraining Scheme. Taking the winning organizations as examples, he stated that their active participation in the Scheme by recruiting graduate retrainees based on their capabilities and merits reflected their open and positive attitude. Their contributions to the Scheme were highly applauded by Mr. Tien.

Mr. Tien also remarked that the ERB was stepping into its 15th Anniversary. Since its establishment, over one million retraining places had been offered with some 500 thousand Hong Kong citizens having undergone training under the Scheme. It illustrated that the Scheme had been progressing with the economic development of Hong Kong and that it had overcome different challenges together with the Hong Kong citizens along the way.

The ERB had given our different awards at the Ceremony today. Of the 66 nominations received for the Outstanding Retrainees Award, 10 were granted the Outstanding Retrainees Award and another 10 the Merit Award. The awards are not only a recognition of the retrainees' job performance, it also honours their positive attitude towards life and their courage in overcoming difficulties.

For the Employers Gold Star Award, 53 organizations were nominated. There were two organizations presented with the Platinum Award, 12 the Gold Star Award, and 16 the Certificate of Outstanding Performance. All the winning organizations had actively participated in the Scheme by employing graduate retrainees, providing development opportunities for them and promoting the Scheme to the public.

This year, the Innovative Partners Award was newly introduced to recognize the contributions and support of organizations to the development of new courses and services under the Scheme. Mr. Tien urged more organizations to join hands with the ERB to achieve more diversified employment opportunities for the unemployed.

Please refer to the attachment for the list of winners. The narrations of the Award winners can be obtained through the ERB website http://www.erb.org (in Chinese only).

The ERB worked with the Commercial Radio One to launch the Ceremony. In parallel, an exhibition on the Scheme and the awardees this year would be held from 5 to 7 January at Olympian City 2. There will also be free massage services for the public at the same venue from 5 to 7 January, as an effort of the ERB to develop the massage market for boosting job opportunities for the unemployed.

For enquiries or press interview with awardees, please contact the Communications and External Affairs Department of the Employees Retraining Board.

Issued by:     Employees Retraining Board
Date:             5 January, 2007
Enquiries:     Communications and External Affairs Department
Telephone:   3129 1345