Minister of State for Federal Education and Professional Training, Muhammad Baligh-ur-Rehman said on Monday that new "Apprenticeship Act" would be submitted to the Cabinet soon with an aim to provide more opportunities to youth. He said this while addressing at the inaugural session of two-day 'International TVET Conference Pakistan-2016' organized by the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC).
He said "The new Apprenticeship Act was approved and would be forwarded to the Cabinet soon. The act would provide more opportunities to the youth to get training in their respective trades at work place." The 2-day first ever international conference began on Monday with an aim to enhance vocational skills of Pakistani youth and would be a step forward to learn from the best practices of the developed world for laying a strong basis to produce skilled manpower in the country.
Experts and professionals in various trades from 15 countries including Germany, UK, China, Turkey, South Korea, Sri Lanka are participating in the conference which would provide an opportunity to their Pakistani counterparts to learn from their experience of bolstering industrial production in their respective countries by investing in human capital.
Minister said that aim of the conference is to reform the TVET Sector and to promote high and sustained growth of economy. Skill development and technical trainings are the key factors to the success of a country's socio-economic development and they also help in improving employment rate in the country, he added. He further said that the incumbent government is fully committed to provide free professional and technical education and trainings to the unemployed youth and the NAVTTC is playing a significant role in this regard. He further said that different competency based training programs have been launched to train youth according to the international quality standards.
Minister of the State said that they must shift their focus to technical and vocational education to meet the demands of enterprises, which require skilled workforce. He said youth was over 60 percent of the total population of the country and it was high time to invest more in their educational needs and vocational and technical training, utilising their energies in constructive way. Government increased the budgetary allocations for education from Rs 500 billion in the year 2012-13 up to Rs 800 billion in the year 2016-17, while for the Higher Education Commission (HEC), the allocation had increased from Rs 41 billion in the year 2012-13 up to Rs 91 billion in the year 2016-17.
The government had reactivated the forum of Inter-Provincial Ministerial Conference (IPMC), National Skills Information System (NSIS), Skills Development Councils (SDC) and National Training Bureau. Minister said that the present government was determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism and extremism completely from the country with its prudent policies. The incidents of terrorism had decreased substantially across the country and now the improved law and order situation would prove as catalyst to the country's financial and industrial growth vis-a vis boosting the economic activities, he said. Minister said the law and order situation was also improving in Karachi which was the hub of economic activity and gateway to Pakistan's economy.
Addressing on the occasion, Executive Director, NAVTTC Zulfiqar Ahmad Cheema said the NAVTTC was pursuing its target of equipping 50,000 youth with technical and vocational training in different trades this year. NAVTTC job portal was benefiting a number of youth through providing them links to around 200 to 250 different jobs on daily basis, he said.
German Ambassador to Pakistan, Ina Lepel, while addressing the TVET Conference said that we would continue supporting the TVET reform system in Pakistan. Mayor of Islamabad Ansar Aziz, while addressing the gathering said that skills development can bring peace and prosperity in the whole region.