Punjab Chief Minister Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif on Friday said that as many as 80,000 youths would be equipped with technical education under Skill Development Programme (SDP). He addressed a gathering of University of Agriculture, Faisalabad students on video conferencing. UAF Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan, deans and directors were also present on the occasion.
The Chief Minister said that the programme costing Rs 4 billion. 17,000 people would get training in its first phase, while 80,000 youths would be made productive in three years. The initiative is aimed at boosting up the net of technical manpower as well as curb the unemployment, he added.
The chief minister said that the Punjab government had given 30,000 scholarships under the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund for needy students, while the 413 talented students of the UAF got benefit from the fund. He said that the steps were being taken in order to increase the literacy rate as well as providing quality education, which is prerequisite to achieve the goal of development.
Talking about unemployment, he said that his government has initiated the Yellow Cabs Scheme. As many as 20,000 people would get the benefit from it. He maintained that the provincial government had set up a Fund of Rs 1 billion under Akhuwat Foundation to provide interest free loans up to Rs 50,000 for needy person to start their business or continue their studies.
He said that the his government had earmarked Rs 10 billion to Punjab Education Foundation to ensure the quality of education at grass root level, while as many as 0.1 million laptops were also being distributed among the talented students of the province. As many as 470 students participated in three video conferences, while the technical assistance was provided by Information Technology Resource Centre & Data Bank and Department of Computer Science.