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More prison inmates will be trained for jobs in the food- and-beverage (F&B) sector, thanks to a renewed collaboration between social enterprise NTUC Foodfare and the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises (Score).
Under an initiative by the two, a 7,500 sq ft bakery workshop will be set up within the Changi Prison Complex.
This will enable an additional 40 inmates a year to pick up skills that will help them to secure jobs once they are released.
Currently, 200 inmates are trained annually under a programme which focuses on imparting culinary skills, and offers advanced culinary courses for inmates who display a flair for cooking.
The programme by NTUC Foodfare and Score - which jointly manage a central kitchen in the Changi Prison Complex supplying meals to some 8,000 inmates - was rolled out in 2009.
NTUC Foodfare presented Score with $100,000 for the programme then.
Another $100,000 was presented to Score yesterday. The cooperative's chairman, Mr Tan Kian Chew, said the money will go towards the introduction of baking and pastry courses.
The training courses "are important in giving purpose, hope and confidence to the inmates by providing (them with) lifelong skills", he said.
Score said that 90 per cent of the inmates trained in the programme go on to secure jobs in the food industry.
A total of 59 trained inmates from the programme have also gone on to sign up for advanced culinary certification courses, such as Workforce Skills Qualifications in F&B and culinary courses by Mendaki's training arm, Sense.
About 10,000 inmates are released from prison each year, said Score chairman Kong Mun Kwong. He stressed the need to aid these inmates in preparing to re-integrate into society.
Score chief executive Teo Tze Fang said: "Once someone has a job, he is able to help himself, his family and his children. This is an important aspect in the re-integration of former offenders."
Under an initiative by the two, a 7,500 sq ft bakery workshop will be set up within the Changi Prison Complex.
This will enable an additional 40 inmates a year to pick up skills that will help them to secure jobs once they are released.
Currently, 200 inmates are trained annually under a programme which focuses on imparting culinary skills, and offers advanced culinary courses for inmates who display a flair for cooking.
The programme by NTUC Foodfare and Score - which jointly manage a central kitchen in the Changi Prison Complex supplying meals to some 8,000 inmates - was rolled out in 2009.
NTUC Foodfare presented Score with $100,000 for the programme then.
Another $100,000 was presented to Score yesterday. The cooperative's chairman, Mr Tan Kian Chew, said the money will go towards the introduction of baking and pastry courses.
The training courses "are important in giving purpose, hope and confidence to the inmates by providing (them with) lifelong skills", he said.
Score said that 90 per cent of the inmates trained in the programme go on to secure jobs in the food industry.
A total of 59 trained inmates from the programme have also gone on to sign up for advanced culinary certification courses, such as Workforce Skills Qualifications in F&B and culinary courses by Mendaki's training arm, Sense.
About 10,000 inmates are released from prison each year, said Score chairman Kong Mun Kwong. He stressed the need to aid these inmates in preparing to re-integrate into society.
Score chief executive Teo Tze Fang said: "Once someone has a job, he is able to help himself, his family and his children. This is an important aspect in the re-integration of former offenders."
