TVET policy in final stages

Islamabad

Minister of State for Federal Education and Professional Training Muhammad Baligh-ur-Rehman on Wednesday said the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Policy was in its final stages and would be ready soon for implementation.

He was speaking to Ambassador of Germany Ina Lepel, who met him along with the delegation from Afghanistan and GIZ here.

The ambassador, team of GIZ and the members from Afghan delegation praised the TVET education in Pakistan. Member form GIZ thanked the Minister of State for Federal Education for the contribution towards the TVET education and for the collaboration with GIZ to implement this programme in Pakistan. He said that he would like to see TVET Policy to be implemented soon in Pakistan as it has been prepared with great dedication from both sides.

The minister of state told the delegation about the technical and vocational trainings in Pakistan. He said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has significantly increased the funding of technical and vocation education by realizing the importance of this sector. He said that due to the devolution of education after 18th Amendment, TVET Policy would be implemented in Federal Capital initially and after that provinces can take guide from it if they like to.

He assured them that this policy is in its final stage and would be implemented very soon.

Moreover, he told them about the Youth Skill Development Programme by the prime minister. He added that the number of students which got the training last year has been increased to 50 thousand from 25 thousand last year. He further discussed about the RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) and CBT (Competency Based Trainings).

"I am really thankful to our partners especially GIZ for finalizing the Minimum National Education Standards in Pakistan," said the minister. Talking about the Public-Private Partnership, he said that we have got some great examples of Public Private Partnership in Pakistan and we would like to continue with this venture in order to enhance our existing capacity in TVET education.

Head of the Afghan delegation said that they are really impresses by the standard of TVET education in Pakistan and would like to be guided and facilitated by Pakistan in this regard as they require capacity building in TVET education. The minister of state assured them that they would facilitate Afghanistan in any way they could. The delegation is on the three days visit to Pakistan to visit TVET institutes here.

In the end, the minister gave the token of appreciation to the delegates.  The meeting was attended by the members of NAVTTC and other officials of the Ministry.