Any body can guess very well about the joblessness in Sindh province that more than 63,000 youth appeared in tests, held at 23 districts to catch only 20,050 opportunities of short-term trainings with monthly stipend of few thousand rupees.
Reliable sources inside the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Youth Development Programme (BBSYDP) unveiled this to Business Recorder that more than 63,000 youth of Sindh appeared in tests which were arranged by the provincial co-ordination unit of BBSYDP a few days back.
These tests were held through National Testing Services (NTS) Pakistan in 23 districts of Sindh for the selection of 5,050 trainees under Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) grant and 15,000 trainees under Phase-IV of the BBSYDP, sources said. The number of candidates who appeared in the tests throughout 23 districts exceeded 63,000 which was a record in itself that such a big number of youth has appeared for any entry/selection test, sources said. The youth of Sindh who are mostly jobless, responded overwhelmingly to the training opportunities of BBSYDP and thronged the test centers in all districts of Sindh, sources said.
Sources disclosed that it was very difficult to control such a big number of youth so that teams of a few test centers faced problems. Duration of all training courses is of 2-6 months while, the selected eligible trainees would be paid monthly stipend and dislocation allowance, ie, Rs 2,500 to 3,000 per month, sources said.
All applicants appeared to get the opportunities of trainings in various trades including tractor operator, rig operator, telecommunication related courses, embroidery, light vehicle drivers, heavy vehicle drivers, ticket collectors, CNG pump operators, CNG fillers, beauticians, entrepreneurship, plastic products, leather products, bulldozer operators, dumper drivers, scrappers, fisheries preservations, oil and gas drilling operators, Dot-net programming, web designing and others, sources said.
They said that BBSYDP is a programme, running under the PPP-led provincial government so that most of selection process in past was held on the basis of favouritism. Federal and Provincial Ministers, MNAs, Senators and MPAs belonging to ruling party PPP had shown their influence during the selection tests held in the past. While, the "Parchees" of PPP's political representatives were also considered by the authorities of BBSYDP for the selection of trainees in recent test, sources added.