ISLAMABAD: National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) Director General Zulfiqar Ahmad Cheema on Wednesday said that the political parties should adopt technical and vocational education as top priority in their election manifestos.
Addressing a press conference here, he said that country’s future lies in the skills development sector. He urged the political parties to think about the future of the country’s 65 percent youth as neglecting these youngsters could fall them in the hands of terrorists and extremists. He said that the technical and vocational sector has enough strength to change the fate of the country by engaging youth in skills development.
Zulfiqar Cheema underlined the need for announcement of a special package by the political parties for skills development sector to alleviate poverty and boost the economy. According to the foreign experts, a huge number of unemployed youth would be the burden on Pakistan’s economy, he said and stressed that the issue needs to be resolved on urgent basis.
He said that the National TVET Policy, approved by the parliament, would be helpful to boost the sector. He said that the industrial sector was strengthened through establishment of sector skills councils. He said that NAVTTC has taken far reaching steps to reform skills sector on modern lines. Due to ongoing NAVTTC programmes in different sectors, a vast majority of youth were becoming financially independent, he said.
“We are providing international standard training to 100,000 youth annually and the number would be further increased in near future,” he said. He said that efforts were being made for affiliation of Pakistan’s world class technical institutes with foreign countries so that the youth can find jobs there as well.
By signing agreements, NAVTTC certificates would be accepted in other countries, he said. It is pertinent to mention that NAVTTC is introducing high-end technology courses including mechatronics, robotics, industrial automation, restaurant management and heavy machinery operation. He said that thousands of paramedics and nurses would be trained in view of national and global demand for paramedics.
