Pak-US ties: Technical training centre for every district

Technical training institutions to be set up with US help.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has sought help from the United States for establishing technical training institutions in every district. These institutions will provide high-tech training to the youth of the country.

This was decided at a meeting between Federal Minister for Education Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali and United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP) Executive Director Rita Akhtar on Thursday.

The minister said that the certificate obtained from these institutions will help the graduates get jobs in Pakistan and abroad. “This would be helpful in reducing unemployment and poverty,” he added.

Ali also underlined the need for more collaboration between his ministry and USEFP, particularly in the training of master trainers (those who will conduct the courses in Pakistan) in US for national technical training.

“Pakistan will need financial and technical assistance from the US [so then we can further] train the unemployed population,” he added.

An official privy to the meeting said that Ali termed technical education as a dire need of the time, given the demands of the ever-growing high-tech industry.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31^st, 2010.