Youth programme: ‘Collective efforts needed to end unemployment’

TEVTA COO Jawad Ahmed Qureshi says so far free skill training had been arranged for 62,000 candidates

LAHORE: Prime Minister’s Youth Programme Chairperson Leila Khan on Tuesday stressed the need for collective efforts to provide better employment opportunities to the skilled youth.

She was speaking at a meeting at the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA) secretariat.

She praised TEVTA’s efforts for introducing demand-driven short courses in various skills and trades. She said the authority was doing an excellent job of equipping the youth with employable skills. She said promotion of vocational skills training and collaboration with the industry would go a long way in eliminating unemployment in the country. She said ensuring provision of decent employment opportunities for the youth was a priority of the government.

Khan said the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme was designed to achieve poverty alleviation and an end to unemployment in the country.

Earlier, TEVTA COO Jawad Ahmed Qureshi highlighted the authority’s efforts to provide opportunities to the youth to equip themselves with skills sought by industrial employers both domestic and foreign. She said the authority was evolving a plan for placement of the graduates of its various short courses. “We need trained manpower to propel industrial growth in the country,” he said.

Qureshi said that so far free skill training had been arranged for 62,000 candidates. He said that by the end of the year the number of people trained in vocational skills at various TEVTA institutes was expected to reach 200,000.

MNA Shaza Fatima Khawaja was also present on the occasion.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2016.