Govt imparts technical training to over 55,000 youth during last year: Shafqat

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood on Wednesday said that the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training had imparted skill based education to 55,000 youth in one year and around 60 percent of them getting employment opportunities.

Addressing a press conference over One Year performance of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government, the ministry through National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) had successfully linked the skills education with the market demand, he added.

We had set the standards of 25 different market oriented skills he said adding the students were bound to ensure their professionalism in these skills. The federation would award government stamped certificates to these skilled youth which would be accepted at national and international level.

Shafqat said the government was making all out efforts for the uniformity of education system by setting the standards of education. He said that different kind of education systems in the country were creating classification in the society.

In order to achieve the task, National Curriculum Council (NCC) had been established. The ministry through NCC would introduce new curriculum till class five by March 2020. Similarly, the new curriculum till matric class would also be introduced by October 2021, he added.

In this regard, the government had taken all stake holders including private sector and Wafaq-Ul-Madaris on board and new curriculum was also being prepared with their consultation, Shafqat said.

The ministry would open its 12 regional offices across the country to register the Madrassas, he said and added those who failed to register themselves would be shut down.

The religious seminaries would hold exams of Dars-e-Nizami subjects at their own till class eight while the exams of other subjects would be taken by the educational boards.

Emphasizing the government steps to overcome the number of out of schools children, Shafqat said that we had indentified 11000 out of school children in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) while around 7000 children had been granted admission in the public sector schools during last one year.

Talking about quality education, he said that the education ministry was taking concrete measures in this regard by imparting training to teachers and introducing new curriculum.

We had introduced BS system and directed the higher educational institutions to suspend the two years BA/Bsc and MA/MSc programme from the educational institutions with an aim to improve quality education.

We were establishing five Centers of Excellence to raise the education standards. In these centers the quality skills education would be provided. In that regard the teachers were being sent to abroad to get professional training, he maintained.

He said that by next week an APP was being launched for the help of ICT citizens regarding skills development.

The government was taking necessary steps to improve literacy rate across the country by utilizing the modern technology, he informed.

To a question, he said that the government was making efforts to ensure the implementation of Supreme Court decision under which the private schools were bound to not increase fee more than five percent.

To a question, he said that the all provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir were agreed for the implementation of uniform education system.

Replying to another query, the minister said that the issue of teachers on daily wages was near to resolve. He added that we had sent a summary to the Federal Public Service Commission for the induction of 700 new teachers in ICT educational institutions.