The World Bank said that the three main challenges which Pakistan is facing are, limited access to education and vocational training, the low quality of education and training, and a shortage of skilled labor for the country’s future growth.
In a press note, the WB said that in order to tackle the problem of insufficient skilled workforce for Pakistan’s future economic growth, the Sindh Skills Development Project was signed to better equip 50,000 youngsters in Sindh, with relevant skills to increase employability of trainees.
The World Bank said that access to education and training is still limited in Pakistan. There’s a wide disparity between male-female, rural-urban, and different regions. Not even 4 per cent of the total population enters into higher education and less than 1 per cent of the population has ever received technical education and vocational training.
Even for students that have access to education and training, quality can be uneven. More than 75 per cent of the graduates have some foundational skills but no marketable skills for employment. This evidence says that the training programs are not relevant to the skills demanded. The poor training quality can be attributed to inefficient public administration of training programs, lack of interaction with industry, and outdated infrastructure of public institutions.
Skilled Workforce ranks as the 6th highest issue (out of 15) in “The Pakistan Competitiveness Report 2009” among the most problematic factors for doing business in Pakistan. Graduates of training institutions are not meeting the demand.
Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Youth Development Program (BBSYDP) and Sindh Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (STEVTA) will strengthen their training programmes to improve the quality of the training programs and measure the impact of training on employment.
The project will train 50,000 youth through providing more and better quality training programs leveraging existing training programs in BBSYDP and STEVTA. To achieve this goal, the project will expand and increase the impact of existing BBSYDP short-term training through additional financing and offering modest stipends to trainees.
The project will also establish market driven institutions through upgrading current programs or creating 70 new programs at STEVTA administered institutions. It will also build the capacity of STEVTA to establish market driven institutions. Activities will include the introduction of better information systems and policies, enhanced monitoring, evaluation and results dissemination.