Technical education: Evening shifts planned for schools

Ashfaq Sarwar chairs steering committee meeting on skills development.

LAHORE: The government is planning to start technical training in evening shifts at educational institutes, Minister for Labour and Human Resources Raja Ashfaq Sarwar said on Tuesday.

He was chairing a meeting of a steering committee constituted to monitor technical skills development.

“Under the Punjab Growth Strategy 2018, the government is planning to launch technical education in educational institutes in evening shifts,” he said.

He said that the committee had been tasked with revamping the existing curricula of technical training institutes and enhancing participation of private sector to improve capacity-building. “The establishment of an independent accreditation, examination and certification agency is also under consideration,” the minister said.

Planning and Development Board Chairman Irfan Elahi, TEVTA Chairman Irfan Qaiser Sheikh and representatives of McKinsey and Company and the World Bank attended the meeting.

The committee reviewed the steps taken to identify key sectors for exporting labour to Gulf countries.

Recommendations to strengthen plans of action to upgrade the curricula of vocational training institutes also came under discussion.

Developing a system-integrator to enhance coordination and share best practices among stakeholders, independent data collection and monitoring mechanism for policymaking were also discussed at the meeting.

“Consultants have been hired to develop a methodology and assist in the creation and maintenance of demand-driven qualifications,” Sarwar said.

Establishment of a centralised job placement body and enhancing participation of private sector were also reviewed at the meeting.

The meeting was informed that the government was planning to launch a comprehensive reform effort to ensure all key TEVTA courses were updated by 2018.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2015.