SINGAPORE - MediaOutReach - 29 September 2020 - The economic impact of COVID-19 has pushed unemployment rates to thenation's highest in more than a decade and is expected to climb further for therest of 2020. This is in tandem with increased demand for relevant ICT skillsas businesses make a digital switch to better cope in the new normal.

Acknowledging the needs of the current manpower landscape, Singapore ITcourses provider, COMAT, has launched 47new funded tech courses to close the digitalskills gap and support a post-pandemic economy. Among the new IT coursesintroduced, it has added brand-based certifications in office skills as well asa range of advanced technology competencies such as those in cloudcomputing, data analytics and AI.

Together with its current pool of training courses, COMAT allowsjobseekers to acquire useful tech skills desired in their chosen fields, orreskill to stay economically relevant and find opportunities in new industries.Companies can also leverage these courses to send eligible employees fortraining to boost their technical proficiencies.

Government grants for training accessibility

With government funding available, both companies and individuals canovercome financial barriers that prevent them from investing in professionaldevelopment, thus making skills upgrading more accessible than ever.

COMAT's courses are eligible for up to seven government grants togetherwith a union funding scheme, applicable to Singapore citizens and permanentresidents. They include:

1.     Critical Infocomm Technology Resource Programme PLUS (CITREP+)

2.     Enhanced Training Support for SMEs

3.     National Infocomm Competency Framework

4.     Skills Development Fund

5.     SkillsFuture Mid-Career Enhanced Subsidy

6.     Post Secondary Education Account

7.     SkillsFuture Credit

8.     Union Training Assistance Programme

These funding options cater to a range of courses across Professional,Manager and Executive levels as well as the rank and file, with furthercategorisation on age and mode of sponsorship. Those eligible may also applyfor multiple schemes and get as much as 100% of course fees covered. Moredetails are available in COMAT's guide to training grants for IT courses inSingapore.

With the pandemic-accelerated adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies inboth the public and private sectors, the nation must ensure that its labourmarket can meet skills demand during volatile economic conditions. COMAT addressesthis at the crux by making IT training accessible, affordable and relevant inSingapore.

About COMAT

COMAT is a business centre of e-Services, Electronics, ST Engineeringthat provides end-to-end certified IT training courses in Singapore for alllevels of employment in the IT sector. It offers a comprehensive range of ITtraining courses and consultancy services, and has trained over 500,000professionals in more than 50 accredited courses. COMAT adopts a variety ofdelivery models, from instructor-led classroom training to one-to-one coaching,providing an integrated training solution that is results-oriented, impactfuland accommodative to the differing needs of the workforce. For moreinformation, please visit: https://www.comat.com.sg/