Minister for Federal Education Shafqat Mehmood Wednesday told the National Assembly that 170,000 youth would be given vocational training in the next 20 months to equip them with skills according to demands of the job market. Speaking during the question hour, he said while under the Prime Minister’s programme, 50,000 undergraduates would be given scholarships this year. He said the government was focusing on two aspects of higher education to bring it at par with international quality standards. The stress would be on faculty development and revision of curriculum on a regular basis, he added. “We are focusing on faculty development and trying to provide education that is relevant to the needs of the market and generates jobs,” he added. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan told the house that Pakistan Television had not yet launched Direct to Home (DTH) service. The work on the project was started in 2004 but could not be materialized due to the huge upfront cost and legal issues with reference to the act of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). However, a consultant was hired for a very short period of time for the DTH project but at the moment it was in limbo. He also informed the house that Ministry of Information Technology was setting special technology parks and was giving IT training to youth. He said Pakistan had faced a brain drain in the last 20 years and its best minds went abroad but now the brain drain was reversing due to policies of the present government. Meanwhile, the National Assembly was informed on Wednesday that an amount Rs2,108.26 million has been utilized by Pakistan Baitul Mal during the first six months of current fiscal year for the welfare of poor people. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan told the House during Question Hour that Rs5653 million have been allocated to Pakistan Baitul Mal for the current fiscal year. He said more funds under this allocation will be made available to the organization in the coming months to go ahead with its pro-poor initiatives. He pointed out that the government has also launched Ehsaas program under which deserving students are also being given scholarships. Parliamentary Secretary for Education Wajiha Akram told the House that NAVTTC has equipped more than two hundred thousand youth with technical skills during the last five months. She said this has enabled them to earn their livelihood. She said the government is focusing to prepare skilled human resources and primarily targeting uplift of youth belonging to under developed areas like Balochistan, Tribal Area, Rural Sindh, Southern Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan said the BISP program was launched for the poorest segment of the society. However, he regretted that non deserving families were made part of it. He said credit goes to the present government which excluded over eight hundred thousand non deserving families from the program.