Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination's (IPC) internship programme is getting popularity among the youth as it has received 146,000 applications against the total 15,000 available seats. "We are receiving a record number of applications. The youngsters are showing keen interest in the internship programme," Director General of National Internship Programme (NIP), Hadyatullah Khan told APP. He said that applicants' academic record had already been forwarded to Higher Education Commission (HEC) for further verification and it would soon be completed.
Sharing the details, he said that the internship amount would be distributed among the provinces as per National Finance Commission (NFC) award formula. The age limit for the applicants of less privileged areas that include Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, and FATA has been increased from 25 to 30 years to accommodate maximum number of students of the neglected areas, he added.
He informed that the students of Wafaq-ul-Madaris, possessing a degree equal to the graduation would also be considered for the internship programme adding that around 84,000 students were already benefiting from the facility. Hadayatullah said that the government was committed to accommodating maximum number of applicants under the NIP umbrella. He said there was no quota on the gender basis adding that female applicants, in particular were being encouraged to apply for the programme. He said that more than 60 per cent of the country population was consisted of youth and most of them were unemployed in the country. "So far around 29,000 internees have successfully completed their internships out of 84,000, while the remaining are in the process of completing their internships," he added. He expressed the hope that after announcement of more internships, unemployment ratio would be reduced considerably in the country. The Prime Minister Internship programme was aimed at channelizing and streamlining the energies of Pakistani educated youth to realize their immense economic potential for the benefit of the country, Hidayatullah Khan added.