Spiritual and worldly: Vocational skills imparted to 14,000 seminary students

LAHORE: The Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA) has imparted vocational skills to 14,000 students of 31 religious seminaries across the province, said a press statement on Monday.

It said after completion of their training most of these students had started their own businesses and were financially independent now.

It said the authority had been receiving requests from several other seminaries for arranging similar trainings for their students as well. TEVTA chairman Irfan Qaiser Sheikh told a meeting on Monday that in view of these requests the authority had decided to set up its vocational training centres on the premises of 30 selected seminaries in the province, the statement added. It said that the authority planned to impart vocational training to 10,000 seminary students in the next phase.

The statement said the purpose of arranging these trainings for the youth seeking religious education was to equip them with employable skills.

It said this would enable them to have more options for securing a sustainable livelihood and help meet the demand for skilled workers in the domestic and foreign markets.

The statement said that at the meeting on Monday TEVTA chairman Qaiser told the officials concerned to prepare a feasibility report on introduction of short courses for seminary students on skills related to the construction sector.

It said that construction sector workers were in high demand in countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The TEVTA would also start training programmes for seminary teachers in the coming days, it said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2016.