Federal Minister for Education & Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood has said that skill development is the most effective tool to help the country progress and prosper speedily. "Skill development is at the top of the current government's agenda and we are focused to take special measures to mobilise our youth and provide them with a conducive learning environment so that they are in a better position to explore their abilities and skills," said the minister while addressing the launching ceremony of 'Training of Master Trainers Programme' held under the auspices of the National Vocational & Technical training Commission here on Monday.
He said the education sector was not given due attention in the past. "Even we could not meet the standards of higher education as PhD scholars are not getting jobs. Skills are imperative in the modern world," said the minister, adding the government was going to set a standard for education. He emphasised the skill development was the most effective tool to help the country prosper speedily.
He congratulated the chairman and executive director of NAVTTC on launching that special programme for training of highly skilled chief master trainers as part of the ongoing reform in technical education and vocational training (TVET) sector of Pakistan. He mentioned that it was quite unfortunate that the country's education system was not adequately linked with employability in the past. He further said the government had focused on pushing up the level of literacy which currently stood at 58 percent only.
Chairman NAVTTC Syed Javed Hassan said the NAVTTC was determined to meet the challenges in TVET sector and committed to substantially improving the quality of training delivery to meet local and international industry's demand of skilled workforce. Australian High Commissioner Margaret Adamson, Ambassador of European Union Jean Francois Cautian, Ambassador of Germany Martin Kobler and Ambassador of Norway Kjell-Gunnar Eriksen also spoke on the occasion and said those trained trainers would help in improving quality of the training, as the learners would get better perspectives of the training in various trades. They extended their full support and cooperation to ensure skill development of Pakistan.
Martin Kobler said there were many opportunities for investment in Pakistan. German companies have sown interest for investment in different sectors.
Under this special training programme, a national pool of master trainers from various trades will be trained and certified according to the globally recognised International Training and Assessment Courses (ITAC). The training will be delivered by the Melbourne Polytechnic Institute, Australia, and Pakistan Institute of Tourism & Hospitality Management with the collaboration of National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) and TVET SSP.
The structure of these courses has been specifically designed by the Australian government's Department of Education and Training, as per the identified international TVET sectors training needs and requirements. It is also in line with the international best practice for competency-based training.
As many as 120 master trainers will be given certificates as per the Australian Competency-Based Training & Assessment (CBT&A) framework. This will help build national capacity to further support the Pakistan's National Vocational Qualifications Framework (NVQF). The master trainers, completing this internationally recognised training, will be from various demand-oriented trades. These master trainers will then further disseminate training to TVET trainers under a cascading model approach.
The training programme has been launched with the collaboration of TVET Sector Support Programme, which is funded by the European Union and the governments of Germany and Norway through their implementing agency, the GIZ.