National Internship Programme launching on March 14

The government has embarked upon an ambitious National Internship Programme (NIP) for unemployed postgraduates through training and providing them employment opportunities, which would be formally launched here on March 14.
The government has finalised all necessary arrangements for launching of the ceremony, which would benefit the unemployed postgraduates of up to age 25, Director General NIP, Ashiq Hussain Abbasi told APP here on Sunday.
Abbasi highlighting the objectives of the programme said that NIP has been designed for the benefit of young unemployed all over the country including Azad Kashmir, Fata and Northern Areas.
He added that this scheme is intended to provide an opportunity of training in government organisations to young fresh graduates and to keep them engaged and interested in acquiring additional knowledge.
Abbasi said that the objectives of the programme are providing financial relief to young degree holders, improving public sector performance by providing young fresh and motivated human resources and enhancing capacity and employability of fresh graduates for their better professional future.
He said that minimum qualification for the programme is Master degree in any discipline or MBA, BBA (Honours), BSc Engineering and medical graduates or equivalent.
He further said that all those completing 16 years of formal education from the universities and colleges recognised by Higher Education Commission (HEC) in the calendar year 2005 and 2006 including the external candidates both male and female below the age of 25 years on January 1, 2007 will be eligible for the internship programme.
The director general NIP said that under the programme the government has identified 130 disciplines for training in ministries/divisions/departments, autonomous bodies and corporations, provincial and district governments.
He said that the internship duration is for one year, however, the government reserves the right to terminate the internship of an internee at any stage while the internee would be at liberty to leave the programme at any stage on 15-day advance notice. The internees will be entitled to only 20 days leave during the term of their internship.
He added that internees after their successful completion of one year full internship duration will be awarded "Internship completion certificate".
The director general NIP said that the interns will be entitled for monthly stipend of Rs 10,000 (all inclusive) till the completion of their one year programme and Auditor General and Accountant General of Pakistan offices will be responsible for the payment of the stipend to the internees on every first of the month.
He said that a National Internship Programme Office (Nipo) has been established in the Management Services Wing of the Establishment Division for overall management, coordination, implementation, monitoring and control of the programme.
Abbasi said that the interns will be required to attend a three-day orientation programme to be organised by the respective host organisation.
He said that each ministry/division will establish a national internship programme office headed by a "focal person" (Not below the rank of Joint Secretary BPS-20 officer) who will be overall incharge of the programme.
However, in case of provincial governments, the Secretary Services and General Administration (S&G) will work as focal person/incharge of the programme.
He added that the focal person will be responsible for the effective management and implementation of the programme and would be responsible for the administrative matters of the internees placed with the ministry/division and departments.
He added that internees will be assessed on a formal grading structure and will be awarded internship certificates having grades of A, B, C, D and unsatisfactory performance.
The director general NIP said that in order to address the organisational-specific peculiarities and allow for flexibility, the nitty-gritty of the interns' activities during their stay with the specific organisation will be left to the organisational head or the secretary. He added that a mentor has been designated for monitoring the performance of the interns in place.
He said that so far the NIP has received about 79,000 application both online and by post for internship and added that all the aspirants fulfilling the criteria will be accommodated purely on merit basis. He added that 1,000 application received from the candidates of Rawalpindi and Islamabad have been cleared after their verification from HEC and Nadra for training. The process for the clearance is in progress, he remarked.
Abbasi said that the eligible applicants will be offered internship irrespective of caste, creed, colour, religion or ethnic origin.