The NWFP Governor Lieutenant General Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai (Retd) Saturday attended a presentation on Human Resource Development Project of Fata Development Authority and in principal agreed to the establishment of Fata skill development company, to be run on public-private partnership basis.
Under the plan the proposed FASDEC would be an autonomous non-profit organisation to upgrade and restructure the existing Technical Education and Vocational Training (TEVT) institutes in Fata and establish new TEVT institutes.
The FASDEC would ensure demand driven training in different trades besides offering specialised training for overseas jobs mostly in the major trades like driving, constructions workers, electrician, auto mechanic, carpentry in addition to the existing trades.
Similarly the already established Government Colleges of Management Sciences in the tribal areas would be tasked to initiate computer, basic book keeping/accounting and small business management.
Governor Aurakzai appreciated the concept of establishment of Fata skill development company and suggested certain changes to make the project more perfect and result- oriented. He emphasised that the proposal should be made more relevant in terms of market requirements and the area.
He also stressed the need for involvement of the people particularly the tribal entrepreneurs and urged that modern techniques should be injected in the projects to achieve the required results.
The presentation, given by a private management consultant group was also attended by the Chief Executive FDA Salim Khan Mohmand, Secretary Admn and Coord. Fata Sikandar Qayum and Deputy Secretary P&D Fata.
Earlier, a detailed presentation was given to the Governor on the Human Resource Development Project of FDA. The project, entrusted to a private management consultant group envisaged to conduct Training Needs Assessment for Fata youth, evaluate the existing technical educational institutes and suggests improvement in curriculum, staff training etc, undertake tracer study for the last 3 years passed outs of technical institutions, identify the areas where new training centers could be established on the basis of TNA, and suggest appropriate administrative structures for managing TEVT in Fata.
Highlighting the findings of the study carried out according to the terms of reference of the HRD project, it was stated that a good number of major development projects were going on in the tribal areas in different sectors, which required approximately 9177 manpower mostly technical hand besides the manpower requirements for road construction and ROZs. As regard overseas employment, the study revealed that 7364 workers from FATA got overseas employment in the year 2006.
The report has also evaluated the condition of the existing technical and vocational institutes and its out put with regard to employment opportunities to the passed out trainers, which according to the report was unsatisfactory. Suggesting various proposals, the study has recommended the establishment of FATA Skill Development Company (FASDEC) on the public-private partnership model under the administrative control of the Governor NWFP.