Equal employment opportunities to youth: Coordinated action plan should be developed: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed on Thursday that a coordinated action plan should be developed to provide equal employment opportunities to the youth.

While presiding over the meeting regarding the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme, the prime minister said that the youth population is the asset of Pakistan whose welfare is linked to the country’s development.

He added that there is immense talent in Pakistani youth and if resources are provided to the youth, the youth can change the destiny of the country.

The premier added that providing employment to the youth is the first priority of the government and all training programmes of the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission should focus on providing employment.

He said that after conducting a detailed survey of the job market, skill training should be started in the priority sectors accordingly.

The meeting was briefed regarding Prime Minister’s Youth Programme and was informed that 0.6 million laptops have been given under the PM Laptop Scheme so far. 0.1 million laptops will be distributed among youth on merit this year and 64 per cent of those trained under the Youth Skills Development Program got decent employment in the last three years.

The meeting was further told that 100 start-ups were funded under Prime Minister’s National Innovation Award, which are being placed in designated incubation centres across the country. Besides, 10 international standard sports academies and one biomechanical laboratory under Prime Minister Youth Sports League to start functioning this year.

The meeting was further told that under the Prime Minister’s Green Youth Programme, 268 universities across the country will be targeted for training youth on climate change prevention and eco-innovation and preparation of National Youth Employment Policy 2024 in final stages.

The focus of the policy will be to create decent employment opportunities for the youth and increase the proportion of women in the workforce.

The PM Digital Hub, which will be a one-window operation dashboard is being developed, the prime minister was told.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024