PM start-up programme to benefit one million students

Islamabad: The Prime Minister’s Startup Pakistan programme will be launched shortly to support one million students in starting up 10,000 ventures, said Special Assistant to PM on Youth Affairs Usman Dar.

"We are also launching National Employment Exchange Program that will be a technology based platform for bringing the unemployed youth in contact with the employers & that will enable integration and alignment of demand and supply to join the employment sector into an interactive system for easy access to employment opportunities, placement, facilitation and monitoring,” Dar told Federal Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood during a meeting here.

He said the proposed projects involved many ministries and departments but the role of the education ministry was pivotal to their success. Dar said the PM Special Skill Project would be launched to provide skill training in high-end technologies and traditional crafts to 100,000 people.

The education minister appreciated those projects and said the education ministry and its concerned departments would work closely and extend full support for the successful execution of the projects.

"We have set up National Curriculum Council that is working on designing Uniform National Curriculum and Traditional Skill Training and High end technological training will be incorporated in the curriculum and skill training will be introduced from schools," he said.

The minister directed the representative of HEC during the meeting to establish incubation centres and startups in all the universities to encourage and support the young entrepreneurs. He said the NAVTTC was already working on Skill Development and has designed a plan to be implemented for imparting skill training to the youth in schools and skill training institutes.

“The NAVTTC should also work for setting up startups in selected TVET institutes,” he said. Shafqat Mahmood also nominated a three members team comprising of one representative each from Higher Education Commission, NAVTTC and Federal Education Ministry as focal persons for full-scale collaboration with the team of Usman Dar for implementation of the very important projects for the youth.