Oral Answer by Ministry of National Development on helping the construction sector to expedite availability of overseas workers and restart projects post-COVID-19

Oct 6, 2020

Ms Cheryl Chan Wei Ling: To ask the Minister for National Development to help the construction sector expedite the availability of overseas workers and restart projects post-COVID-19 (a) whether the Skills Evaluation Certificate (Knowledge) test can be conducted in Singapore upon the overseas workers' arrival instead of overseas testing centres; and (b) whether there can be an exemption for workers with past experience in the same trade in Singapore.

Answer:

We require new foreign construction workers to pass the Skills Evaluation Certificate (Knowledge) test, or SEC(K) trade test, at our overseas testing centres to ensure that they are equipped with the necessary trade knowledge and skills competency before coming to Singapore to work. This way, employers and the workers themselves can be assured that the workers are able to meet the requirements before incurring expenses, such as airfare, to travel to Singapore. For workers that have previously obtained the necessary SEC(K) qualifications in a particular trade, they do not need to retake the SEC(K) test before returning to Singapore to work in that same trade.