Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta) Chairman Irfan Qaiser Shair has said the authority will train more than four million youth of Punjab with different skills in next two years. He also said his team was revamping Tevta and would work according to the demands of the local industry, adding that 16 new short courses of three to six months duration will be started from January 2015.
While talking to Business Recorder, Irfan Qaiser said with the support of World Bank, Jica and GIZ, Tevta was focusing on teachers' training, curriculum development and job placement of their students. He said they were focusing on introducing new technologies such as mobile repairing, textile designing, industrial stitching, cooking, beauticians with a special focus on introducing courses relating to information technology such as auto cad, certificate in computer application and web designing.
He said a placement centre had been established at Tevta which was working in close collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce. He also said he was in liaison with the job providers in gulf countries and trying to convince them that they would hire skilled man power from Pakistan.
Irfan Qaiser said Tevta was also working on revamping the district management boards by including members from the representatives of local industry and in that regard he was visiting Sialkot next week. Chairman Tevta said leading businessman of the country Mian Mansha told him in a recent meeting that "we need thousands of trained labour in garment industry."
Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said Tevta Punjab had developed world's sixth and Pakistan's first online Skilled Labour Market Information System (SLMIS) which would be functional from January 2015. "At present, UK, Korea, Malaysia, Philippine and Sri Lanka are using labour market information systems. All these systems have been studied in development of SLMIS by Punjab Tevta."
He was addressing Tevta officers here other day in a meeting at Tevta Secretariat. Chief Operating Officer Jawad Ahmed Qureshi and others were also present on the occasion. Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said SLMIS developed by Tevta Punjab would provide key information on Punjab's labour market including market trends, skill training opportunities in different trades and technologies, data of passing out students and job seekers as well as vacancies for technical persons in the industry. "The facility of free registration is available for all the students of technical and vocational institutes, job seekers and employers on this web portal so that unemployed skilled youth may find suitable job opportunities. This web portal will also provide information on employment and unemployment rates in different sectors of the industry besides other useful economic data."
Chairperson Tevta further added that Sialkot Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI) and Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) had actively collaborated with Tevta in designing of the system and its validation process. Irfan Qaiser also said the system had been developed by Research & Development Section of Tevta under the dynamic supervision of the Tevta COO Jawad Ahmed Qureshi.
The SLMIS has also been appreciated at the national level by NAVTTC who is working to introduce similar labour market information systems in other provinces. The SLMIS will be operated and maintained at Tevta Secretariat Lahore by a team of qualified officers and labour market specialists. The labour market information of whole Punjab will be consolidated at Tevta Secretariat in co-ordination with its district level offices. The selection and training of staff for running the SLMIS have already been completed during last month and operational instructions have been issued to field offices. Such initiatives by Punjab Tevta will help reduce unemployment in the fight against poverty and enable the skilled youth of Punjab to contribute towards socio-economic development of the country.
"Tevta is looking for technical assistance and training from private sector under CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) in selected trades/technologies for its newly-established institutes, in phases, across the province of the Punjab. Basic aim of Tevta is to impart employable skills to the youth not only for their personal growth but also for the development of industry in Pakistan. Tevta is a vibrant organisation for producing skilled workforce in the country. Skilled manpower can also add foreign exchange to national exchequer. Promotion of technical education is the only way to eradicate poverty and bring prosperity in the country," Irfan concluded.
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