Vocational skills of youth to be enhanced

Islamabad: A two-day International TVET Conference will begin here today (Thursday) with organisers claiming it will help enhance vocational skills of Pakistani youths and introduce the best practices of the developed world to lay a strong basis for producing skilled manpower in the country.

The conference being organised by the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission with the collaboration of the TVET Reform Support Programme and GIZ will be participated by experts and professionals from over 20 countries, including UK, Germany, China, Australia, South Korea, Turkey, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Iran, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Bangladesh.

NAVTCC Executive Director Zulfiqar Ahmad Cheema told reporters that the event would provide an opportunity to Pakistanis to learn from the experience of foreign experts and professionals to bolster industrial production by investing in human capital.

He said the event was meant to promote mutual collaboration between the industry and training providers, curriculum development to meet the international standards and to equip the youth with standard technical skills, to name just a few, so that they could be employed at any institution of the national and international level.

"Maintaining quality technical education is pivotal in the courses being taught at the vocational institutes," he said, adding that the interaction of the local experts with the international ones in the vocational training would help them hone their skills. He said the skilled youth was pivotal for the industrial production and without their participation, no country could achieve development.

"The NAVTTC is making all-out efforts to equip youths with modern technical skills by formulating new policies and upgradation of curricula to meet the international standards," he said. Zulfiqar Cheema said South Asian countries were facing similar problems which can be resolved through their cooperation and by adopting a global approach which would benefit the entire region.