NAVTTC plans reforms in skill development sector

Islamabad:Under the 'Hunarmand Jawan' initiative, the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission will embark on a comprehensive reforms process of the country's skill development sector to make it compatible with the requirements of the huge youth population as well as domestic and international job markets.

The programme is part of the government's recently announced 'Kamyab Jawan' initiative. A consultative meeting to discuss the project concept (PC-1) of the NAVTTC for implementation of the programme was held here on Tuesday.

It was attended by various stakeholders of the technical and vocational TVET sector from all the provinces and regions to make collaborative and coordinated efforts for making this mega project more effective and meaningful for the socio-economic empowerment of youth across Pakistan.

Addressing the meeting, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Usman Dar said the unique and ambitious programme was aimed at skilling our most precious national asset youth by creating employment opportunities for their social and economic uplift and enabling them to play their pivotal role in the national development.

He said unlike the past practices, our focus is on enhancing quality and not on just increasing numbers. He proposed that a technical steering committee be constituted to review the progress of the project on a quarterly basis.

"To ensure merit and transparency, the entire programme will be made available on a digital platform," he added. "We are focused on imparting quality training to our youth which is the only way to guarantee employability to at least 80% of our TVET graduates," chairman of NAVTTC Syed Javed Hasan said.

One of the key features of this project is encouraging maximum participation of women in our TVET sector, he said. "This huge project is one of its kinds, envisaging the reform agenda of TVET sector of Pakistan, and has been developed after extensive deliberations and feedback from key stakeholders from across the country, the executive director NAVTTC Dr Nasir Khan told the participants.

We have incorporated all eight identified interventions as prescribed in the road map by the Task Force on Technical and Vocational education, he further added. The prime minister's special assistant thanked the provincial and regional representatives for their valuable input and willingness to work jointly with the Federal government for the betterment of the country's youth.

Member of Private Sector Development Planning Commission Asim Saeed chaired the meeting. The key components of this programme include development and standardization of technical and vocational qualifications, international accreditation of Pakistani TVET institutes, an extension of NAVTTC's Job Portal with National Exchange Portal, the establishment of smart Tech labs for virtual skill development programs and distant learning programmes, the establishment of country-of-destination specific facilitation centers. The other components are establishment of labs/workshops in Madrassah(s), skill development training of youth in high-end technologies, training to youth belonging to less developed areas of the country especially Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and newly added districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (ex-FATA), Southern Punjab and rural Sindh.