KUALA TERENGGANU: Terengganu is hoping to train about 1,600 single mothers as local maids in a 15-day intensive training plan.

State Education, Higher Learning, Science, Technology and Human Resource Committee chairman Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman said the training would be based on methods used at a maid-training centre in Bandung, Indonesia.

“Officers of the State Family Development Foundation will obtain the training modules to help us train our domestic helpers,” he said.

The Indonesian modules covered household duties and each complete session would last two weeks, he said when met here recently.

Ahmad Razif said the foundation’s officers were expected to leave for Bandung after the Hari Raya holidays.

According to the Terengganu Women and Family Department database, there were more than 16,000 single mothers in the state, some as young as 21 years.

Many of them depended on state handouts and the state anticipated that 10% of them would be interested in the training.

The first batch was expected to be equipped for employment by year end.

Ahmad Razif said the single mothers would be given a monthly salary of RM450 to RM550.

The proposed working hours were from 9am to 5pm daily and Friday would be a day off, he said.

“They don’t have to stay in with their employers as they are not from another country. This would minimise homesickness,” he said.

He said the plan was mooted by the state to address the shortage of maids and minimise the entry of foreign domestic helpers.

He said the locals had the advantage of understanding Terengganu dialects and the culture of their employers.

The centre, he said, would be monitored by state-owned training provider Tesdec to prevent complaints of poorly-trained maids from employers.

The maids would be given uniforms and the centre would recruit nurses, former maids, chefs and psychologists as facilitators, he added.

The Bandung modules, he noted, covered all fields including caring for the elderly.

The centre would issue a certificate of competency to the participants once they complete the training, he added.

Ahmad Razif said that details like agreements between maids and employers would be outlined later.