Skill development: FATA Development Authority to train 10,000 youth annually

To establish six training centres for women in IDP camps.

PESHAWAR:

The FATA Development Authority (FATA-DA) is planning to impart skill development trainings annually to around 10,000 students and youth belonging to the tribal belt.

The authority organised a certificate distribution ceremony at the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) Laboratories Complex on Thursday.

While addressing the participants, Youth Skill Development (YSD) Chief Executive Mian Aftab Ali Shah said that special programmes have been designed to achieve the target set by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa governor for imparting technical training to the youth of Fata.

“We will also establish six skill development centres for women in IDP camps,” Shah told The Express Tribune. He said the government is trying to enrich the youth of Fata with technical and vocational expertise in order to make them self-subsistent and active participants in the region’s progress.



He added the trainees will be taught in well-accommodated centres under the supervision of skilled faculty in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Shah mentioned that more than 7,000 tribal youth have been trained by FATA-DA in different job-oriented skills so far, purely through government resources, saying that it is now the youth’s responsibility to contribute to the socio-economic uplift of tribal areas.

Training coordinator Tahir Khan told The Express Tribune that training is being provided in more than 76 different trades that include skilled labour, laboratory technician, plumbing, etc.

He congratulated the 53 trainees of the 2nd batch who successfully completed their courses conducted by the Dimension Stones Evaluation Centre (DSEC), an auxiliary organisation of PCSIR, Peshawar and hailed the efforts of the institution.

Khan maintained that the efforts are a part of the government’s initiatives for tranquillity and social development in Fata and soon they will begin to bear fruit.

“The training will help me expand my income prospects,” said Mohsin Khan, a student from Kurram Agency.

“Expertise in mining is vital for the people of the area,” said Muhammad Azeem, another trainee from Mohmand Agency. He added the absence of a technical college in the entire tribal belt is a cause for concern.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2014.