More than 24,600 trainees have enrolled in 1,161 Skills Upgrading Scheme classes since its launch in September 2001.

Secretary for Education & Manpower Arthur Li told legislators today that of these, 19,643 graduates from 1,098 classes have completed training and course-end assessments.

More than 90% started with an enrolment rate of over 80%, and 734 classes (about 63.2%) had 100% enrolment.

Professor Li said the Scheme Secretariat always receives requests from training bodies to increase the number of approved classes, and that courses for the retail, hairdressing, electrical engineering and property management industries are the most popular.

He said the Secretariat will offer more training places pending approval from respective Industry working groups. By the end of last month, 372 extra classes have been offered.

Meanwhile, 152 unemployed people have enrolled in the Scheme's courses, mostly in Electrical Engineering and Property Management.

The Government launched the Scheme to provide training courses for people with secondary or lower education.