The Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA), under the fifth phase of their Special Training Program (STP) will train more than 25,000 workers in the coming three months at selected TEVTA institutions across Punjab, said Muhammad Arshad Bhatti, Acting Chairman of TEVTA here on Monday.
"We are working in line with the government policies and mandated to impart skills to educate the youth and make them capable of earning their livelihood honourably," Bhatti said while addressing a meeting of TEVTA district managers.
He said that TEVTA had trained more than 76,000 semi-skilled workers in the last year, most of who have either been employed by the private sector or are self-employed. The TEVT chief added that they are earning their livelihood successfully.
This semi-skilled workforce was trained in four phases of three months each. The courses were all on different demand-driven trades as per requirement of industries, he said. After the fruitful results of the STP, TEVTA has launched the fifth phase of this program that would help in meeting the demands for a skilled work force, Bhatti said. He added that it would also enhance the chances of employment for low-income group.
Bhatti informed the audience that the Punjab Government has allocated Rs 2.3 billion for technical training in it's Annual Development Programme (ADP). In the ADP, Rs 1.351 billion will be spent on the completion of 51 ongoing schemes and Rs 948 million would be spent initiating 34 new schemes.
He added that from the 34 new schemes, seven would be from the technical stream, 22 from vocational and one from the commerce stream. He said that the increase of 360% in the allocation of the ADP budget in 2008-09 for technical and vocational training shows it is a priority of the present government.
He added it was their vision to enhance Pakistan's global competitiveness through the production of a qualitative workforce by developing demand driven vocational training systems across the province. The TEVTA chief said that all the programs are market-oriented and training the youth in employable skills.