Labour and Human Resource Minister Raja Ashfaq Sarwar expressing his views at the ceremony. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
LAHORE: Labour Minister Raja Ashfaq Sarwar on Thursday formally initiated competency based training (CBT), a new approach to raising a skilled workforce, across 60 vocational training institutes of the Punjab Vocational Training Council (PVTC).
He launched CBT courses at a special ceremony organised by the PVTC at the Expo Centre in collaboration with the Technical and Vocational Education Training Reform Support Programme. The programme has secured funding from the European Union (EU). The ceremony was also organised to mark the passing out of the PVTC’s first batch of graduates.
Keeping in view the latest trends based on market demands through a training need assessment (TNA) and after conducting demographics surveys at the tehsil level, the PVTC has developed curricula for 92 trades to cater to the needs of the industrial, the agriculture, the health and service sectors. The training of these trades is being imparted across its 241 vocational training institutes province-wide. To date, over 450,000 people have been successfully trained by the PVTC. Of these, 73 per cent have found employment or have become entrepreneurs.
The CBT programme provides the basis for the implementation of the National Vocational Qualifications Framework (NVQF), which the government launched in March. Under it, training programmess have been designed and delivered using a systematic approach focusing on better employability prospects for its graduates. The duration of these programmes range from six months to one year.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister Sarwar said promoting technical and vocational education and training was a priority of the government. This, he said, was why such great attention was being devoted to the sector. He said Pakistan was fortunate to have been blessed with a youth bulge. The minister said this had to be exploited to facilitate national growth.
Zakat and Ushr Minister Nadeem Kamran, Industries Secretary Muhammad Shafique, Zakat and Ushr Secretary Nayyar Iqbal, PVTC Chairman Faisal Khan, the chief of the TVET Reform Support Programme and a former navy chief were among those present on the occasion.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 14th, 2016.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ