NAVTTC setting up sector skills councils

Islamabad :Executive director of the National Vocational & Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) Zulfiqar Ahmad Cheema briefed the media on the performance, challenges and future targets of his organisation at a local hotel on Sunday.

He said that during the past few years we have taken steps to create awareness regarding the importance of skill development and now we receive almost 4 times higher number of applications against the allotted seats.

Earlier, the NAVTTC trained 25,000 boys and girls annually and now the number of trainees has been increased to 100,000 a year.

He said the quality of training has been increased manifold; moreover, monitoring process has become effective. It is compulsory for the institutes to conduct tests of the trainees each month. After that, mid-term exams are taken and after five months, skill competitions are conducted.

“Officers of the NAVTTC visit the institutes on regular basis and monitor the quality of training and performance of instructors. Old and outdated examination system is replaced with modern method of assessment under which 90 percent exam is based on practical test. Moreover, out of three assessors, two belong from industry,” he said.

According to him, for guidance of youth, job placement centres have been established at Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi which has resulted in better employment chances for them.

“Earlier, collaboration with the industry was insignificant, however, steps are being taken to strengthen collaboration with them and in this regard sector skills councils are being established.”

The NAVTTC executive director said that we do not have dearth of skilled labour. There are thousands of people who have learned the skills informally and hence they don’t have any certificates or proof for which they are considered as unskilled abroad.

“To bring these informal trained workers in the national economy, we have initiated system of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and thousands of skilled workers are being assessed in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Islamabad who will be certified after passing the tests,” he said.

The NAVTTC executive director said Pakistan had become a member of WorldSkills Council and has become a part of the world community in the field of technical and vocational education sector.

He said that would create tremendous employment opportunities for our TVET graduates and they will also participate in the world skills competitions.

“This will help in strengthening our collaboration with the international TVET community and we will be able to learn from the experiences and best practices of the developed countries in TVET sector,” he added.

He said skill competitions have proved to be a game changer. After zonal and provincial level skill competitions, National Skills Competition will be held on 23rdOctober, 2017 at Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA). The champions of each trade will be awarded with Rs100,000.

The second position holder will be awarded with cash prize of Rs 75,000 and third position holder Rs 50,000. The winners will receive these prizes from the country’s president. The NAVTTC executive director urged media to come forward and help in creating awareness among youth about the importance of skill development.