Active involvement of the industry in impart technical and vocational training is inevitable for provision of required demand-driven skills to Pakistanis as Rs1.5 million new youth annually enters the labor market.
This was the crux of deliberations at a national seminar entitled-Involving Enterprises into Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), jointly organized by National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) and TVET Reform Support Programme held here on Friday which was co-funded by the European Union, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands and the Federal Republic of Germany.
TVET experts, officials, employers and training providers participated in the seminar from all over the country. The main purpose of the seminar was to deliberate upon various local and international models of involving the private sector into TVET system and seeking a way forward to replicate them in Pakistan.
NAVTTC Executive Director Tariq Shafi Chak opened the seminar and underlined the need for involving the industry into TVET system. He said Pakistan has the biggest potential of youth, which needs to be equipped with demand-driven skills and that cannot be possible without participation of the industry. He invited the private sector to come forward and be part of the TVET delivery system.
Coordinator TVET Reform Support Programme Dr. Ute Hoffmann shared details about Germany-Pakistan Training Initiative, which involves the German enterprises working in Pakistan into demand-driven cooperative training delivery system.
She said under this initiative, Pakistani training providers such as AmanTech and iACT will cooperate directly with the enterprises in 14 jointly elaborated training programmes to be implemented. She hoped that at the end of this initiative Pakistan will have a good example to replicate.
She proposed that a working group acting as think tank under the umbrella of NAVTTC should guide strategic involvement of the industry in TVET development, planning, delivery and evaluation. This working group having experts mainly from the industry should find efficient solutions leading to high impact of internships, the apprenticeship scheme and new forms of cooperative training, she proposed.
Chairman Punjab Vocational Training Council (PVTC) Faisal Ijaz Khan, Former Vice President Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Dr. Shahid Raza, Mehran Gul, expert from United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Director Operations Sindh Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (STEVTA) Syed Nazar Ali and NAVTTC Regional Director Lahore Hasan Nasir were also give their presentations.
