Corporate social responsibility: Increasing employability through vocational training

Local industries are rushing to hire graduates of the programme.

HYDERABAD: The Engro Corporation's Technical Training College in Daharki, Ghotki district, aims to produce graduates to cater to the technical needs of the local industries and beyond. At a press briefing on Engro's corporate social responsibility activities, director Favad Soomro revealed that 60 people have graduated from the three-year extensive training while another 206 are enrolled in the programme.

The college, built and operated by Engro in the industrial hub of Ghotki district, provides training in two technical trades - mechanical and chemical in view of the local industries' demand. Two more trades of instrumentation and information technology will be introduced in 2015, he added.

"As soon as the graduates passed out, a race began among the local industry to hire them," he claimed. According to him, there is a dearth of properly trained technical staff in the district. "If the people are hired from other districts on merit, an outcry starts that the local people are being denied jobs."

With two more trades, the college will produce 120 graduates each year consisting of 30 in each trade. Asghar Naqvi, Engro's public affairs adviser, said that a vocational training centre will also be launched in Tharparkar. He added that a building structure, belonging to STEVTA, has already been selected for the purpose.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2014.