Opening Address at the SkillsFuture Fellowships and Employer Awards 2026

Acting Minister for Manpower Jasmin Lau, Flower Field Hall, Gardens by the Bay

President Tharman Shanmugaratnam,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Opening

1 Good afternoon. It is my pleasure to join you at the tenth SkillsFuture Fellowships and SkillsFuture Employer Awards.

2 First, congratulations to all our award recipients!

3 Today, we honour 14 individuals who have pursued mastery in their craft, kept learning throughout their careers, and given their time to develop others. We also honour 28 employers who invest in their people, and who make learning part of how they grow their business.

Lifelong learning matters more than ever

4 Technology, and AI in particular, is changing how work is done in every sector across the economy. Jobs are being redesigned, and new ones are being created.  

5 The skills we picked up early in our careers may no longer be enough to carry us through our working lives. That can be very unsettling, and I understand why many workers may feel anxious.

6 But technology also opens doors. It can free workers to take on new tasks and higher-value roles, at every stage of their careers.

7 So the question is not whether change will come. It is whether we are prepared to keep learning, keep adapting throughout our lives. Our SkillsFuture Fellows here today show us what that looks like.

Skills mastery is a lifelong journey

8 One of them is Mr Ang Hong Ooi, Senior Principal Engineer at PSA Corporation. Mr Ang joined PSA in 1994 as a trainee technician, and his learning has moved in step with the transformation of our port. I had a chance to meet with him and tried to pick up some of his secrets to learning new skills.

9 He started out maintaining conventional cranes, then helped design the automated systems at Pasir Panjang and Tuas. Along the way, he continued learning data analytics, Python and machine learning. ! Today, he is exploring how agentic AI can help maintain those same cranes.

10 Mr Ang shows us that mastery does not mean reaching a point in your life where there is nothing left to learn. It means continually building on your expertise as your profession changes. He has also mentored more than 30 engineers and contributed to training and curriculum development in port automation.

11 This commitment to learning and bringing others along is what the SkillsFuture Fellowships celebrates. Congratulations, Mr Ang.

Employers as enablers of lifelong learning

12 But lifelong learning cannot rest on individuals alone. Workers are more likely to invest in new skills when they understand the skills their industry needs, when employers give them opportunities to learn and apply these skills at work, and when their efforts translate into meaningful career progression.

13 One of our Employer Award recipients today is Singapore Aero Engine Services, which maintains and repairs aircraft engines.

• As the company adopts more advanced manufacturing technologies, it is investing in its workers to keep pace. They train their employees in areas such as AI, industrial automation and digital systems, enabling them to apply new technologies in their daily work
  .
  
• What is special is that as employer, they also support workers who are making career transitions into the industry. They have welcomed 30 employees since 2024 through intensive Career Conversion Programmes, helping them build the skills needed in the aerospace industry. It is not easy to get workers to convert from one industry to the next, and it helps to have patient and supportive employers willing to invest in workers to do so.
  
  
• Singapore Aero Engine Services is an example of how our Employer Award recipients actively invest in people as their businesses transform, helping workers build the capabilities they need to grow alongside their businesses.

14 When employers invest in training and open up new roles, workers can grow with the business they have helped build.

A shared responsibility

15 These stories show the culture Singapore needs: individuals who take ownership of their learning, and employers who invest in their workers. The Government also has a part to play by creating an environment where learning and upgrading opportunities are available.

16 This is especially important for our mid-career workers.  Taking up a new course or skill can mean giving up income, taking time away from family and facing uncertainty about job prospects. This is why the Government introduced the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme in 2024.

Taking stock of the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme

17 The SFLP supports Singaporeans aged 40 and above to reskill substantively, so that they stay adaptable as the economy changes. It does this in two ways.

18 First, the $4,000 SkillsFuture Mid-Career Credit helps with course fees, and a SkillsFuture Mid-Career Training Allowance helps to make up for some of the income given up while training.

19 We are encouraged by the take-up. As of 30 June this year, about 80,000 Singaporeans have used their SkillsFuture Mid-Career Credit, and more than 11,000 have received the Training Allowance.

20 One example is Ms Bernadette Castro. She took a career break to care for her three children, and later on, she was driving part-time for a private-hire platform. Then she decided at the age of 41 to switch into healthcare. She went back to study after a long break. It felt daunting to her but she pressed on. She used her SkillsFuture Credit to complete a healthcare operations course at HMI Institute. She then joined HMI OneCare Clinic as a Clinic Assistant and has since been promoted to Trainee Team Leader.  Bernadette tells us that she wants to do more for her patients, and her experience shows us that it is never too late to start again.

Connecting training to opportunity

21 Beyond encouraging training, we must also make sure training connects to real opportunities.

22 We are strengthening this approach by working with sector agencies to curate courses that address sectoral skills gaps and manpower needs, including courses that prepare workers for specific roles, or lead to recognised qualifications.

23 When we introduced the SFLP in 2024, we started with supporting substantive training, mostly in the Institutes of Higher Learning. We are now broadening the range of supported courses to include more sector-specific training offered by industry leaders and private training providers. We will start with three sectors: Financial Services, ICT, and Maritime and Offshore.

24 From 1st December, if you are 40 or older and thinking of moving into one of these sectors, your SkillsFuture Mid-Career Credit can go towards around 60 courses chosen with industry, and designed to lead to real jobs.

25 For example, mid-career workers keen to move into the technology sector can take up courses under IMDA’s Tech Immersion and Placement Programme, which combines intensive training with placement into tech roles. In the Maritime and Offshore sector, selected Certifiable Courses under Maritime and Port Authority’s Maritime Cluster Fund can also help local maritime personnel deepen their expertise. Selected substantive courses under the IBF Standards Training Scheme will also equip individuals with key skills needed for roles across the Financial Services sector.

26 We will keep working with industry and sector agencies to refresh these courses as jobs evolve. We want workers to feel that the time and effort they put into training is worthwhile, and have confidence that the skills they acquire will open up new career opportunities.

Closing

27 Our SkillsFuture Fellows remind us that learning is a lifelong journey and show what happens when individuals commit to mastery. Our Employer Award recipients show us how organisations can create opportunities for their workers to grow.

28 Together, they show that no one has to navigate change alone. And as they keep learning, they also help others start.

29 Congratulations once again to all our recipients. You inspire many more Singaporeans to keep learning throughout their lives.

30 Thank you.