Govt plans to launch pilot project of vocational training institutes

Islamabad
The government plans to launch a pilot project 2015 of vocational training institutes in order to reduce the dropout rate.
The information was shared by Minister of State Baleegh Ur Rehman while chairing a meeting of World Bank Education team on Friday.
He said that first Technical and Vocational Training (TEVIT) policy has also been launched recently. “Vocational qualification framework is going to be revised by the Cabinet very soon,” he said.
“Meanwhile, Apprenticeship Act has also been finalised in order to facilitate the vocational schools. We are trying to replicate the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) model on federal level. We are also planning to develop the technical high schools all over the country,” he said.
The minister of state shared that Pakistan is going to chair the E9 conference for next two years and would try to resolve all education woes in this period. He said that best practices of the world’s education need to be shared with Pakistan in order to improve education system in the country. Therefore, he asked the World Bank education team to arrange lecture series for the educationists, teachers, students, and parents in Pakistan. He admired the active engagement of World Bank with the Parwan Centre at Academy for Planning and Management (APMA).
He said that education has been a great challenge for every government in Pakistan. “Although our federal government has shown remarkable efforts in increasing the education budget in past 1.5 years and we are fully determined to improve the education standard in Pakistan. Our goal is to establish universities in each and every district of Pakistan which would be linked to the provincial universities,” he said.
The minister talked about the law and order condition in the country and said that the terrorism and extremism have adversely affected the education sector. “However, current military operation in North Waziristan and similar operations in other parts of the country have been quite successful and results are coming in. Most of the areas of North Waziristan have been swept and IDPs have started returning to their homelands which is commendable.”
He said that after the devolution, curriculum development also went to the provinces which led to confusion. “I am pleased to share that all provinces except one are on the same page and working on the development of National Curriculum. Madrassas reforms have also been under taken and we are closely monitoring the madrassas’ curriculum in order to root out any hate material,” he further said.
Senior Director Education Global Practice from Brazil Claudia Maria Costin said that Brazil and Pakistan have similar educational challenges and achievements and therefore we can learn so much from each other’s experiences.
“Brazil committed a mistake by devolving too much of the education subject to the provinces without devising any mechanism. But thankfully we are back on track and working on the development of National Curriculum like Pakistan,” she said.