Skilled labour portal: Number of registered Faisalabad units dismally poor

TEVTA to launch campaign to encourage the city’s industrialists

FAISALABAD: As many as 13,500 industrial units registered with the Skilled Labour Marketing Information System (SLMIS) web portal of the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta) are getting appropriate, suitable and skilled manpower according to their demand through this free service, said Waheed Asghar, Director (SLMIS) Cell, Tevta.

Speaking to the business community at the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) on Monday, Asghar revealed that data of 74,400 skilled workers had been uploaded on the web portal and 2,756 of these workers belonged to Faisalabad.

“Tevta is producing a sizable number of skilled workers in different trades and the syllabus of these courses has also been updated in line with the needs of industrial units,” he said.

Asghar, however, pointed out that the number of registered industrial units of Faisalabad was dismally poor, adding Tevta was planning to launch an awareness campaign to encourage industrialists to register themselves with the web portal and search for appropriate skilled workers without any hassle.

The portal is also helping students of Tevta institutions, who had completed their training, in getting jobs according to their skills. “These skilled workers will definitely play a major role in improving productivity as well as quality of products; thus, they will also help in curtailing the cost of doing business,” he said.

FCCI President Chaudhary Muhammad Nawaz highlighted that Pakistan was among top 10 countries of the world in terms of remittances sent home by overseas workers.

“The labour force is growing by 3.2% per annum; we must equip them with the best technical and vocational skills,” he said. “If this force is properly managed and exported, we could enhance our foreign remittances up to $20 billion per annum within a short span of three years.”

He pointed out that Tevta was running 1,456 technical institutions across Punjab, of which just 12 were working in the Faisalabad district - a number that was insufficient to meet the needs of skilled workers of around 20,000 industrial units in the city.

He suggested that Tevta should send its students to the industrial units during summer vacations where they would work as volunteers and get practical experience in specific trades.

“In the unorganised sector, a huge number of skilled workers are available who have got training under the traditional master-disciple relationship,” he said and asked Tevta to test their skills and issue certificates to enable them to get jobs in reputed industrial units of the organised sector.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2015.

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