Over 75,000 courses to be available for NSFs from November to help their transition out of service

Starting Nov 1, full-time National Servicemen (NSFs) will have access to a new platform that will provide career and educational courses to assist them in furthering their studies or finding work after completing their National Service (NS).

Named the SkillsFuture@NS Learning eXperience Platform (SF@NS LXP), it will replace the current Electronic Pre-Release Employment Programme (E-PREP) scheme that serves the same purpose.

The new platform was the result of a partnership between the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and NTUC LearningHub (NTUC LHUB), announced MINDEF in a press release on Thursday (Sep 22).

All existing and future NSFs will be provided an account to access the new platform. They can activate these accounts anytime during their full-time National Service (NS) and it will remain valid for two years from its date of activation.

Under E-PREP, NSFs have $350 worth of credits to use in various skill development and refresher courses provided by educational institutes. These credits are provided during their last 12 months of NS and will remain valid for a year after the NSF’s Operationally Ready Date (ORD).

With the new platform, NSFs will be offered more than 75,000 courses – compared to E-PREP’s 3,000 courses – and can create and track their own career journeys and receive course recommendations based on their jobs and skills.

There will also be a centralised hub of online resources and information from government agencies, industry partners and private education institutes for NSFs to refer to, including information on career and education fairs. The platform will also host a job and course portal that allows NSFs to apply for school or work.

As part of the partnership, NTUC LHUB will also organise quarterly SkillsFuture@NS career and education fairs for NSFs in their last three to six months of full-time NS.

Senior Minister of State for Defence Heng Chee How highlighted the potential of the new scheme and its added value for NSFs in terms of upgrading their skills, understanding the job market and seeking work and training.

He said: “MINDEF/SAF, and I also speak on behalf of the Home Team, takes the contributions and the sacrifices made by our national servicemen very seriously. We fully appreciate and want to recognise that.”

The list of available courses currently provided can be found on the NTUC LHUB website.