Punjab brings ‘youth skill’ under focus by allocating Rs26bn in FY26

LAHORE: World Youth Skills Day is celebrated Monday globally to spotlight the transformative power of technical and vocational education in building inclusive economies and resilient societies while the Punjab government has also focused on it by allocating Rs 26 billion in fiscal year 2025-26.

Following the vision of the Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the Government of Punjab has placed skills at the heart of its economic agenda. Under the CM Skilled Punjab initiative, landmark programmes are in placed as Rs 26 billion are allocated for skills development and entrepreneurship for the fiscal year 2025-26.

For the first time Punjab has consolidated all TVET policy under a single Skills Development and Entrepreneurship Department (SDED); bringing Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF), Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA), Punjab Vocational Training Council (PVTC), Punjab Skills Development Authority (PSDA) and Punjab Board of Technical Education (PBTE) under one strategic umbrella to ensure every effort is aligned with labour-market demand.

The Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF), Pakistan’s largest skills fund and the implementing arm of CM Skilled Punjab Initiative has spent 15 years building employer-led training pathways. In that time, it has enabled 600,000 graduates (44 percent women) across 250 trades. Current flagships programs include PSDF: Tabeer – International Placement of Rs 2.7 billion for 2,500+ global job placement, PSDF - Mein Digital- Empowering rural women through IT of Rs 1billion for 3,000 educated rural women and PSDF -Pehchan- Skill Development Program for Transgender for Rs 870 million for 2,250 marginalized transgender, each designed to unlock new segments of talent and link them to high-value local or overseas work.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025