Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rohani Abdul Karim said the main purpose of the Home Managers Programme is to reduce the dependency on foreign maids.

Asked why the programme failed in its second year after it was launched, Rohani said there was easy availabilty of foreign maids at the time, but that this scenario has since changed.

“In recent years, the country had been having difficulty in hiring foreign maids.

“To meet the growing demand for maid services, the Women Development Committee, under the ministry, has decided to reactivate the Home Managers Programme with a twist for commercialisation,” she was quoted as saying in Balik Pulau, Penang, by NST.

“It also serves as a platform for women who plan to rejoin the workforce. We will have the contents of the programme geared towards carrying out household duties,” she told the local daily.

Launching the Human Managers Programme for the northern region in Balik Pulau, Rohani said currently there were 165 home managers in the country.

“It is our aim to have at least 20 home managers in each state and 350 home managers nationwide by the end ofthis year,” Rohani said.

The home managers would be given the freedom to organise their working arrangements with customers, as well as the charges for services rendered.

Rohani hoped that the home managers would be reasonable in the fee structure in order to remain competitive, and be flexible as “different states need different pricing”.

“It also depends on the number of hours of work, as well as the services offered, such as baby-sitting and taking care of the elderly who might be bedridden,” NST quoted her as saying.

Rohani had previously been reported as saying that the ministry was opening the programme for single mothers and school leavers to be trained as well.