KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 (Bernama) -- The next time you walk into an average Indian restaurant for a hot and spicy banana leaf meal, it will most likely be cooked by locally-trained chefs and no longer those from India.
Human resources Minister Datuk Dr S.Subramaniam said today that under a training programme of the ministry, locals were being trained to take over from cooks from India in Indian restaurants, and the response from local Indians had been encouraging.
"We hope to reduce the number of cooks from India in stages, especially in Indian restaurants, once the first batch of locally-trained chefs is produced," he told reporters after visiting the CQ Tec College here.
The college received its first batch of 25 trainees last June for a six-month intensive programme.
Dr Subramaniam said the fees for the trainees were borne by the ministry through the Skills Development Fund Corporation and they would also be paid monthly allowances.
"Once they graduate, they will also be able to open up their own restaurants," he said, adding that the future was promising for Indian youths especially.
He said the idea was mooted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak f who wanted the ministry to train local chefs and not depend too much on cooks from India.
Another training programme undertaken by the ministry was hair-styling to replace barbers from India.
"We want the two sectors (restaurants and hair salons/barber shops) to rely less on foreign workers and employ locally trained people who are equally good," he said.
Dr Subramaniam also said that there would be more intakse of local students into the ministry-approved colleges for the two sectors.
-- BERNAMA
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