The extermination of the Technical Education Board by Punjab Government

A plea to the government: think twice

The Government of Punjab is going to make yet another blunder that would darken the future of hundreds of thousands students of Technical Education and hundreds of Technical Institutes throughout the province of the Punjab. It has decided to exterminate the Punjab Board of Technical Education (PBTE). The plan is to merge Trade Testing Board (TTB) to PBTE and constitute a new corporate examination body “Punjab Skills Agency (PSA)”. The provincial government has almost completed its homework for the establishment of PSA and it will soon present the Punjab Skills Agency Act 2016 in the Punjab Assembly to be approved. The Chief Minister of Punjab has hired a German Consultant Mr. Stephen to prepare a structural draft of PSA. Mr. Stephen has been visiting PBTE and preparing his report since last three months. This decision of the government could prove a suicidal attack to technical Education in Punjab. The erroneous decision is maneuvered by the World Bank and foreign vested interests inside Pakistan. The aims are to produce labourers like security guards, masons, chefs, cooks, driver, tailors, white washers etc. by the end of 2018. The government would discontinue Diploma of Associate Engineer (DAE) in Technical Institutes and introduce three/six month short courses instead. This would ultimately deprive the province as well as the country of hundreds of thousands of Associate Engineers.

Punjab Board of Technical Education, Lahore (PBTE) is the largest examination body of Technical, Commerce and Vocational Education in the province of the Punjab. Working since 1963 till date, this autonomous body is dealing with affairs of affiliation of private/government institutes, registration of candidates, migration, how exams are conducted, issuance of certificates/diplomas and their verification. Millions of pass outs of this Board are working on key posts in various national and international organisations and utilizing the best of their knowledge, abilities and skills. PBTE is currently conducting examinations for 450 different courses including Diploma of Associate Engineer (DAE), Diploma of Commerce (D.Com), Vocational Girls/Boys two years, one year and three/six month short courses, NEVTEC (National Education and Vocational Training Council) and PSDF (Punjab Skill Development Fund) courses. The Examination of DAE having 42 technologies is the largest task of PBTE which it has been performing outstandingly. 838 institutes from Punjab, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) are affiliated with PBTE. Annually, 400,000 candidates participate in various examinations and 100,000 certificates/diplomas are issued to successful pass outs. As compared to the other Boards of Punjab and Pakistan, all procedures of PBTE including online registration and online admission form feeding are fully computerised. Trade Testing Board is another examination body in the province of the Punjab and conducting examinations for 11000 candidates of vocational short courses annually.

Punjab Board of Technical Education was established by the Govt. of Punjab through an Act in 1963, amended in 1977 and is what is now called the PBTE act 1977. PBTE being situated in the largely populated province of Pakistan had great challenges ahead. However, during the course of time it prepared and updated itself to meet the new challenges and requirements. With its efficient working, PBTE kept on earning good name inside the country and abroad as well. Currently, three year’s Diploma of Associate Engineer (DAE) in various engineering fields/technologies is considered to be a trademark of PBTE worldwide.

The question is why does the Government of the Punjab want to abolish PBTE and bring into existence a new examination body? The Government of the Punjab, as described in its Policy Frame Work, vows to train 2 million skilled workers (actually labourers) by the end of 2018. Second argument of government is to create a Single Testing Authority in the province of Punjab to avoid overlapping functions. Now coming to the other side of the picture; the government of the Punjab has acquired millions of dollars from The World Bank to give them numbers of 2 million trained labourers by the end of 2018. Obviously, The World Bank and western countries (to please their think tanks) would love Pakistan to be producing labourers instead of intellectuals, engineers, doctors, researchers and scientists. The government of the Punjab willingly or unwillingly is going to accomplish the hidden objectives of alien powers. The GOP intends to eradicate three years Diploma of Associate Engineers and persuade its aspirants to take admission in short courses to get nearer to the target of 2 million numbers as committed with the World Bank. Can government achieve this target by creating PSA? The answer is clear no. An army of 2 million skilled workers or labourers couldn’t be generated within short period of two years. Initially, the Punjab government made efforts to get this task done by TEVTA (Technical Education & Vocational Training Authority), NEVTEC (National Education and Vocational Training Authority) and PSDF (Punjab Skill Development Fund) courses, the output was a complete failure. Despite of paying heavy amounts per student to the institutes and stipends ranging from 2 to 3 thousand per student, 200,000 numbers couldn’t be met. TEVTA is a large body, responsible for technical & vocational education in Punjab, however its performance has been very poor. This large body is causing millions of dollars loss to the government annually by not producing the quantity and quality of technical and vocational education.

The employees of PBTE and TTB have severe reservations and fears regarding creation of PSA. My personal assessment and prediction is that creation of PSA would be a destructive plan. BY creating PSA, the government would further deviate from its target. If government of the Punjab is really dreaming progress and prosperity by means of skilled labour, then I would sincerely like to put following suggestions before the government.

1. The Government of the Punjab does not need to defunct PBTE. TTB may be merged to PBTE and let PBTE work in its same capacity and name. Changing the name of PBTE would create verification and communication problems for the previous pass out candidates serving globally. However, measures of upgradation and increase in the capacity of PBTE would be beneficial. Secondly, the mandate of PBTE is to issue certificate and diplomas equivalent to under degree classes. Three year’s diploma of Associate Engineer (DAE) and two year’s diploma of Commerce (D.Com) is equivalent to Intermediate. Likewise two year’s courses of Matric Tech and Matric Vocational are equivalent to Matric. By obliterating PBTE, this mandate would also be terminated. Hence the overall literacy rate in the province will decline.
2. The other option is to Constitute Pakistan Skills Agency (PSA) as a supervisory body over all technical, commerce and vocational examination bodies like PBTE, TTB, PVTC (Punjab Vocational Training Council), SDC (Skill Development Council). This supervisory body may be assigned the tasks of regularising and monitoring all maters (other than those falling in the spheres of examination bodies) to meet the target ahead by the year 2018.

• The binding task of examination bodies like PBTE and TTB (or expected PSA) are to deal with the affairs of examinations only. To prepare an army of 2 million workers, the government needs to emphasis reforms in government/private technical and vocational institutes throughout the province. These institutes must be upgraded, qualified staff must be hired and machinery/technology relating to technical courses must be provided to the government/private institutes on war footings. Funds must immediately be provided to the institutes for establishment of laboratories.

1. The course of three year’s DAE shouldn’t be ceased; instead students of DAE may be persuaded to take admission in at least one short course along with their formal studies.
2. Likewise, in general education the students of Matric and Intermediate may also be included in the same spectrum. These two measures would help the government to meet the number required.

Though, this being provincial matter, it will have a great impact on the overall progress and prosperity of the country. Therefore, I request the Federal Government, particularly the prime minister, to personally look into this matter and for the sake of a better future for Pakistan, stop government of the Punjab from exterminating PBTE and creating PSA.