LAHORE: The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) School of Education (SOE) and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has announced a partnership for education and entrepreneurship. The announcement was made during an event held at the Chief Minister House, Peshawar on Tuesday. A service level agreement was signed between LUMS and the KP government between the university vie chancellor Pr Dr. S. Sohail Naqvi and KP Director General Youth Affairs Asfandyar Khan Khattak. The Youth Entrepreneurship and Education Programme entails training various cohorts directly and selecting at least seven universities in KP, preferably those more accessible to young entrepreneurs from rural communities, to join the cohorts with at least two observers/trainees. LUMS will provide oversight and stewardship to these seven universities to bring them to the same level as the cohort being developed by LUMS itself. Under the programme, the KP government will provide funding to promising business ideas and start-ups with unique products and/or services. Addressing the ceremony, the vice chancellor said, “Our youth is our future. We are proud and delighted to be working with the KP government on this ground-breaking initiative that focuses on entrepreneurship as the vehicle to improve the economic well being of the youth” “LUMS will share all of its learning and provide oversight and stewardship to selected universities in the province, so that the impact of the initiative may be enhanced,” he added. Asfandyar Khan Khattak, at the occasion, termed this collaboration between LUMS and the PK government as “important one” and said that their main target was to engage the youth in the province and establish them as entrepreneurs as well as bring back the youth who had moved out of the province and established their businesses elsewhere in the country.” The KP government has allocated Rs.500 million for the KPIC, of which 84% will be given as grants directly to successful applicants and 16% will be used to implement the programme by the LUMS SOE.