Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Youth Affairs Muhammad Usman Dar said on Wednesday that the Kamyab Jawan Programme (KJP) had been creating massive job opportunities for the youth by offering soft loans and technical trainings in conventional and high-tech trades.

Addressing the KJP’s certificate and loan distribution ceremony at Bahria University, he said there had been a marked upsurge in economic activity across the country as 10,000 new businesses had been launched under KJP. The opening of new businesses had provided direct employability to over 20,000 youth across the country, he added. Likewise, employability rate for the Skill for All programme was also impressive, he said, adding it was 60 per cent in traditional trade courses while 80 per cent in high-tech ones.

He vowed to make all the data related to the Kamyab Jawan programme public to highlight success of the initiative. Usman Dar said 170,000 youth were being imparted trainings in traditional and high-tech trades under the Hunarmand Pakistan (Skill for All) programme . The SAPM noted that around 37,000 young people had completed their six-month courses in traditional and high-tech trades under its first phase, while training of another batch of 55,000 youth was underway.

He said that National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) would soon enroll the rest of targeted youth for the various trainings under the programme. Usman Dar said the youth, trained under Ustad-Shagird model, were being provided Recognition of Prior Learning certification which would eventually help them get jobs in local and overseas markets. Mentioning another programme of the KJP, he said 20,000 students were being empowered under its apprenticeship initiative. He said Pakistan would have successful business leaders like Mark Zuckerberg in future as the government was heavily investing in its young people. Two major pro-youth initiatives including the Youth Entrepreneurship Programme and Skill for All were launched for the empowerment of young people, he added.

The SAPM urged the youth to dream big and start a start up with passion as all the leading businesses in the world had initially launched a small business, adding the loan cheques being given to the youth under the KJP should be considered as a source of employment. Terming the KJP as a demand driven programme, he said the youth was taken on the board before launching the initiative. First and foremost demand of the youth at the time of KJP launching was employment, which was given priority by rolling out the soft loan scheme.

He said the Skill for All programme was launched after the YES as education was the second major demand of the youth, adding the Prime Minister’s Tiger Force was launched to ensure their civic engagement in line with the third demand. For political engagement of the young people, he said the National Youth Council was set up to give them representation at the local and international fora. He urged the women to reap benefits of the KJP as 25 per cent of the total allocation was allocated for them exclusively. The role of women to the national development was crucial, he added. The SAPM said Prime Minister Imran Khan was keen to create massive employment opportunities for the youth, adding the government would make all-out efforts to empower them

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