TVET institutes to meet demand of skilled workforce for CPEC projects

Islamabad : The government is planning to upgrade and enhance capacity of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutes across the country by transferring state of the art Chinese technology to meet China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) skilled workforce required for its second phase.

The US $ 68million worth of project is to be implemented with the Chinese support under its socio-economic development programme for Pakistan, according to official documents available with APP.

Pakistan earnestly needs such projects to improve skilled labour productivity as the country falls behind other neigbouring countries in this area, the document revealed.

The cities in which the TVET institutes are planned to be upgraded include Bahawalpur, Jehlum, Mansehra, Dera Ismail Khan, Gwadar, Lasbela, Larkana, Hyderabad, Giglit, and Mirpur.

Under the project, the institutes would be equipped with modern apparatus and smart laboratories, besides advanced level 5 of curricula would also be adopted in the institutes.

Similarly the local institutes would be affiliated with the best Chinese TVET training institutes and student and trainers exchange and capacity building programme would also be launched under the project.

The technology and equipment transfer would be provided by China in a range of areas including industrial automation, process control, advanced electronic, automotive engineering, precision engineering, design engineering and AutoCAD, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, mechanical, metallurgy, artificial intelligence, mechatronics, and robotics.

The project would not only help providing high tech skilled workers for economic and industrial development but would also create greater employment opportunities for Pakistan workers in overseas markets.

The documents also show that so far the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NACTTC) has imparted skilled training to 28,890 youth in various CPEC related sectors including construction, energy, hospitality, hotel management, tourism, and general ad domestic services.

In Islamabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit Baltistan, as many as 18 TVET institutes are imparting training in CPEC related areas and so far it had trained 2,110 people.

Similarly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 34 institutes have trained 2800 youth while in Balochistan, 15 institutes have so far trained 1220 people for various CPEC related sectors.

In Punjab 92 institutes have developed 17320 skilled workforce while in Sindh as many as 38 institutes have trained 5,440 people to cope with the growing need of skilled workforce in second phase of CPEC.