Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced on Saturday to launch six youth welfare schemes with initial allocations of Rs 20 billion.
Addressing the nation on radio and television‚ the prime minister said the programmes will be aimed at creating self-employment opportunities for the youth and will be a step towards the fulfillment of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)’s manifesto.
He said the Micro-Interest Free Loans Scheme will target the disadvantaged sections of the society and will benefit 250,000 people, adding that an allocation of Rs 3.5 billion rupees had been made during the current fiscal year.
The Small Business Loan Scheme has been designed for unemployed‚ especially educated, youth to enable them to start their own businesses. Under the scheme, loans ranging from Rs 500,000 to Rs 2 million will be given to the youth at a concessionary markup rate of eight percent and the remaining markup would be borne by the government. Half of the loans would be given to women and initially the loans would be advanced by the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and the First Women Bank. Rs 5 billion have been allocated for the scheme.
The prime minister announced that under the Youth Training Scheme, those completing sixteen years of education from a recognised institution would be given practical training to help them secure jobs in Pakistan or abroad.
Nawaz said, “A scholarship of Rs 10,000 per month will be given to 150,000 graduates for on-job training,” adding that Rs 4 billion had been earmarked for the scheme.
The Youth Skilled Development Scheme will be launched for boys and girls who have passed class eight. They will be given six-month-long training in different trades and a scholarship of Rs 5000 per month. The premier said the government had designated Rs 800 million for the scheme.
Nawaz also announced a scheme for sponsoring tuition fees of students from backward areas so that financial constraints do not deprive brilliant students of their right to education.
The government will, on average, pay Rs 40,000 annual fee for the higher education of each of the 30,000 students. This scheme will be launched at a cost of Rs 1.2 billion.
The prime minister said Rs 4 billion have been earmarked for the Prime Minister’s Scheme for Provision of Laptops. Under the scheme, 100,000 students will be provided laptops by the federal government this year.
The PM said the federal cabinet had already approved the basic structure of the schemes and arrangements to implement them had also been completed. However, he invited suggestions from people to make the schemes more transparent and hundred percent merit-based.