Vocational training: Shahbaz opens ‘skills fair’ in Bahawalpur
‘Rs50,000 loan will be available to successful participants’.
BAHAWALPUR:
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif inaugurated a three-day skills fair in Bahawalpur on Thursday which will provide vocational training to residents.
“Such programmes will go a long way in training unemployed youth and provide them earning opportunities,” Sharif said, speaking to a gathering at the skill fair.
He announced that the provincial government would give loans of up to Rs50,000 to people on successful completion of their training.
He urged the youth to participate in these programmes and said that these initiatives ‘would help bring a revolution’ in the country. “These programmes are part of the government’s efforts to curb unemployment and make people self-sufficient,” he said. Sharif said affluent people should adopt austerity measures and help his government in taking the country out of the present crises. He said the Punjab government had adopted a policy of self reliance based on these principles.
“We have said no to any new foreign loans. We should start living within our means,” he said.
He criticised the federal government holding it responsible for the energy crisis in the country. He said the PPP government’s wrong policies had exacerbated the crisis instead of alleviating it.
Punjab Skills Development Fund
The skill fair has been organised by the Punjab Skills Development Fund, a consortium of 42 companies, established by the provincial government in collaboration with United Kingdom’s Department for International Development.
As many as 117 organisations had applied for support under the programme and 31 have been selected.
These organisations will initially train 17,000 individuals in Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Lodhran and Muzaffargarh districts. Participants will be trained in 68 skills for 17 sectors, including agriculture, livestock, construction, IT, handicrafts and textiles.
Nurses protest
A group of nurses gathered at the Dring Stadium and staged a protest demonstration against the government for not permitting a delegation to meet the chief minister. They had intended to meet Sharif to discuss a list of demands including a salary raise. They said the government had assured that these demands would be met by December 20. However, they said, no action had so far been taken by the government in this regard.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 30th, 2011.
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif inaugurated a three-day skills fair in Bahawalpur on Thursday which will provide vocational training to residents.
“Such programmes will go a long way in training unemployed youth and provide them earning opportunities,” Sharif said, speaking to a gathering at the skill fair.
He announced that the provincial government would give loans of up to Rs50,000 to people on successful completion of their training.
He urged the youth to participate in these programmes and said that these initiatives ‘would help bring a revolution’ in the country. “These programmes are part of the government’s efforts to curb unemployment and make people self-sufficient,” he said. Sharif said affluent people should adopt austerity measures and help his government in taking the country out of the present crises. He said the Punjab government had adopted a policy of self reliance based on these principles.
“We have said no to any new foreign loans. We should start living within our means,” he said.
He criticised the federal government holding it responsible for the energy crisis in the country. He said the PPP government’s wrong policies had exacerbated the crisis instead of alleviating it.
Punjab Skills Development Fund
The skill fair has been organised by the Punjab Skills Development Fund, a consortium of 42 companies, established by the provincial government in collaboration with United Kingdom’s Department for International Development.
As many as 117 organisations had applied for support under the programme and 31 have been selected.
These organisations will initially train 17,000 individuals in Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Lodhran and Muzaffargarh districts. Participants will be trained in 68 skills for 17 sectors, including agriculture, livestock, construction, IT, handicrafts and textiles.
Nurses protest
A group of nurses gathered at the Dring Stadium and staged a protest demonstration against the government for not permitting a delegation to meet the chief minister. They had intended to meet Sharif to discuss a list of demands including a salary raise. They said the government had assured that these demands would be met by December 20. However, they said, no action had so far been taken by the government in this regard.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 30th, 2011.