Skills development: Courses for eight mining sectors to be launched

Minister says almost 5,000 people to be trained in handling mining and discovering minerals in the next two years

LAHORE: More than 4,789 people will be trained to work in the mining sector under the Punjab Growth Strategy- 2018, Minister for Mines and Minerals Nawabzada Sher Ali Khan said on Tuesday.

He was presiding over a meeting to review a skills training programme in the Mines and Minerals Department’s mining sector. Chief Mines Inspector Siddique Chaudhry and Mines Welfare Director Chaudhry Riaz attended the meeting.

Siddique Chaudhry said under the annual development plan, the department was planning to enrol 2,000 people in skills development training programmes in eight sectors of mining – underground mining, surface mining, health and safety management, geographic information system, drilling and sampling, mines electrician and machinery operator, handling storage and use of explosives. They will be trained at Punjab Schools of Mines in several districts including Mianwali, Khushab and Chakwal, he said. Chaudhry said they would be paid Rs3,000 stipend per month in the first six months of the training. Mines Welfare Director Riaz told the participants that around 2,780 people will be trained in various other skills. They will be enrolled in routine training courses of the department. The courses, in various categories, will be between two weeks and two months long. The minster directed relevant officers to extend the training facility to other districts of the province so it could reach as many people as possible.

He told the participants that the training courses will not only help phase out traditional mining methods but will also expand the skillset of people interested in joining the mining sector. He said it would increase job opportunities and enhance capacity building at the Mining Department. Khan said as many as two million youths of the province will be provided the latest skill development trainings over the next two years to help them get better jobs and join the international labour market.  He said that the Mines and Minerals Department was working hard on preparing a cadre of skilled labour in the mining sector that would help enhance the country’s economy.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 2^nd, 2016.