Career opportunities: Seventy-three technical education centres to be set up across K-P

TEVTA has already established 10 such centres in Peshawar, Mardan and other districts.

PESHAWAR:

Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has established 10 vocational training centres across K-P under its Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Reform Support Programme.

The association is planning to set up another 63 centres under the same programme with the aim to provide services to the trainees for their personal, professional and career development.

These centres will also bridge the gap between the job market and skilled labour force through collaborative networking.

It is necessary to focus on technical education and the provincial government has allocated Rs8 billion for the sector, Adviser to the Chief Minister on Technical Education Shah Mohammad told The Express Tribune.

“Pakistan lags behind many developing countries in the sector and the provincial government will facilitate experts in the field to bring it up to par,” said Shah Mohammad.



In the pipeline

According to Tevta K-P Chairman Nauman Wazir, the authority plans to set up a total of 73 technical and vocational education centres in K-P and initially 10 have been established in Peshawar, Kohat, Charsadda, Nowshera, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Lower Dir and Mardan.

“These centres will be training students in developing entrepreneurship skills,” said Wazir while speaking to The Express Tribune following a Tevta meeting earlier this week.

He explained that under the reform support programme, the Fund for Innovative Training (FIT) has been set up to support new approaches to skill development and increase access of marginalised social groups to technical and vocational education.

“FIT emphasises on initiatives in four areas: green skills, empowerment of women, youth and marginalised groups, enterprise involvement and entrepreneurship,” said Wazir.

He added these projects and initiatives are expected to make the TVET system more flexible and responsive to the needs of people in areas that have fewer opportunities.

The TVET Reform Support Programme is co-funded by the EU, the Netherlands, Germany and Norway.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2014.