The Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA) is facing difficulty in completing the admission process in its institutions across Punjab after the transfer of a large number of its officers.
On the other hand, thousands of youths seeking technical education are facing uncertainty because of the the administrative problems caused by the shortage of staff.
TEVTA supervises around 400 training institutions, including 40 technical education colleges that offer classes for Diploma in Associate Engineering.
According to sources, the crisis in TEVTA began when the staff of the Punjab Industries, Commerce, Investment and Skills Development Department (ICI&SDD) moved to the TEVTA secretariat and occupied 50 per cent of the buildings, displacing the staff of the authority for three months.
"The shifting of the department was supposed to be temporary and it was expected that the staff would vacate the buildings. Currently, 150 officers of the ICI&SDD are occupying about half of TEVTA buildings," said a senior official of the department.
But after the period, as many as 78 of 145 officers of TEVTA were transfered. Some officers doing PhD were also transferred to remote cities.
The sources said the workstations of the 78 officers had been handed over to officials of the department.
"Now, when the admission season has commenced, we are facing shortage of officers because they included those responsible to supervise the process, the offcial added.
TEVTA is the country's biggest skills training institutions that has 400 institutes and of vocational education in Punjab.
Researches have revealed that only one per cent of the youth in the country receive technical education, which is a very low ratio as compared to other developing countries.
The TEVTA secretariat has 185 sanctioned posts of officers, but there were only 145 serving on various posts, while now only 67 officers are running the affairs of the authority.
All the transfers were ordered during the important admission season, which began immediately after announcement of the matriculation results.
The sources sad the transfer of a large number of staff members had hampered the operations of many departments, including operations, procurement, academics, placement and human resources.
Punjab Skills Development Secretary Ehsan Bhutta had held the additional charge of TEVTA chairman for some months, while Brig (retd) Sajid Khokhar was appointed to the post on August 20.
However, the new chairman had not taken the charge of his post after 10 days of his appointment.
The sources said there was confusion in the authority over weather the transfers were a temporary measure or the post left vacant in the secretariat in the provincial capital would be abolished.
The provincial secretary and spokesman of TEVTA declined to comment on the matter.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 31st, 2023.
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