Afghan refugees get technical training

Islamabad : The National Vocational and Technical Training Commission has imparted six months of free training to thousands of Afghan refugees settled in various regions of the country with the help of the UN refugee agency.

In this regard, UNHCR high-level delegation headed by UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filipo Grandi visited Islamabad Institute of Construction Technology Institute (CTTI) on Friday. The High Commissioner interacted with Afghan refugees receiving training and appreciated the high quality of training.

On the occasion, executive director of NAVTTC Zulfiqar Ahmed Cheema thanked the High Commissioner for the cooperation of UNHCR and said the move not only has increased confidence in the Afghan refugees of Pakistan, but also now they are able to earn a respectful livelihood with the help of their skills.

Principal of CTTI Colonel Imran Ilahi briefed the High Commissioner about the organization and gave him a tour of various wings of the training institute. UNHCR country head Philip Grande lauded the efforts of the executive director NAVTTC for imparting high level training to the Afghan refugees and expressed desire to continue further collaboration in future.

He also said that special courses were devised to strengthen women under this program, which would help them become economically stable and expressed satisfaction that Afghan trainers were now able to secure honourable jobs if they return to their country.

He distributed certificates among the Afghan graduates.

Under the training programme, more than 1800 Afghan refugees across the country were trained in 24 most demanded trades.