Minister for Science and Technology, Nouraiz Shakoor Khan said on Monday that no nation could progress unless it was capable of fully utilising the potential of its educated youth. "Employment amongst educated youth is priority of the government in line with the vision of the President for a prosperous and modern Pakistan," he added.
The Minister was speaking at the launching ceremony of an orientation course, which is being held under National Internship Programme (NIP) by the Ministry. Around 47 newly inducted graduates under the NIP are attending the five-day course, organised by COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) here at Pakistan Science Foundation.
Nouraiz said this programme would help the government in reducing unemployment and provide immediate relief to the educated youth and an opportunity to enhance their skills for future productive employment.
The Minister said the programme will also provide local organisations and companies with the opportunity to hire qualified individuals to undertake special capacity building projects and provide recent graduates with skills gained from full time work experience. "The rate of unemployment for our young people is almost double that of other age groups.
Not because they do not have the motivation, the ambition or the energy," he said, adding that the real barriers facing unemployed young people are lack of specific employment skills. He said without experience and relevant skills, many young people have little chance of getting and holding a job. But that cycle of "no job or no experience," can be broken with this initiative.
On the occasion, Secretary Ministry of Science and Technology, Pervez Butt said the programme is aimed at harnessing the energy and motivation of educated youth as paid interns in the public sector. Through this initiative, he said the government intends to realise aims including provision of financial relief to young degree holders, improvement in the performance of public sector through internship of young, educated and motivated youth, and enhanced employability and capacity of fresh graduates for a better professional future.
He urged the internees to work hard and give maximum contribution, as this is an opportunity to learn about the working through an interaction with various units of the organisation.
Co-ordinator National Internship Programme, Sheheryar Khan explained the salient features of the programme. He said all the fresh graduates, who have completed their 16 years of education from any Higher Education Commission's recognised institution and less than 25 years of age were eligible for the internship.
He said the period of internship is for one year and the interns would be placed with all government organisations. Chairman Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), Dr N. M Butt, Rector CIIT, Dr Junaid Zaidi and Ministry officials were also present.