The provincial minister for labour and human resource has announced to set up a new, single and independent Punjab Skill Agency to better technical and vocational training provided by the Technical Education Vocational Training Authority, Punjab Vocational Teaching Centres and other skill trainers.
The announcement came from Minister Raja Ashfaq Sarwar talking to participants of a meeting of the Punjab Skill Development Steering Committee at the Planning and Development Auditorium on Monday. "The Punjab government will undertake a functional review of the Punjab Board of Technical Education and the Trade Testing Board as agencies responsible for accreditation and assessment, reviewing and revising the legal regulatory framework in which they operate," the minister said.
Project Director Ameer Khatak briefing the meeting said, "To achieve two million target of skill training under the Punjab Growth Strategy 2018 a total of 548,000 youth will be trained annually in different sectors." "The Technical Education Vocational Training Authority will train 140,000, Punjab Vocational Teaching Centres 133,000, Punjab Skill Development Fund 60,000, government departments 81,000, Technical Education Vocational Training Authority affiliated private institutes will train 41,000 while other private sector independent institutes will train to 93,000 per year."
He also said that to achieve this target, a system capacity by demand-driven skill training would increase with the sector focusing approach to build capacity, flexible training would be ensured, tailored to employer's needs and partnership of the private sector. He claimed, "Every graduate will get job and in the class training as well. The Punjab government will ensure performance-based funding for the training institution and improve governance, independent quality assurance by testing and accreditation with regular monitoring to ensure progress in provincial skill training sector."