ISLAMABAD: National Vocational and Technical Training Commission’s (NAVTTC) was providing free of cost facility to both youth and Pakistani industry to bring them closer and realize the dual objective of employment for youth and quality skilled workforce for industry.
NAVTTC initiative for establishing Job Placement Centres with dedicated resources is linking Pakistani skilled workforce with employers in both national and international job markets, said Chairman NAVTTC Syed Javed Hassan in an exclusive talk with APP.
In addition to this, 104 Job Placement and Vocational Counseling Centers (JP&VCCs) had been established across the country for the benefit of youth, he added.
He said that skill profiles of around 600,000 Pakistani youth were available on this job portal. Realizing the emerging needs, he said, the NAVTTC has taken numerous initiatives for implementation of National “Skills for All” Strategy, which was a comprehensive road-map to uplift TVET sector in Pakistan.
For this purpose, NAVTTC is formulating skill development programmes, funded by public & private sector and other international organizations i.e. ILO, British Council, JICA, TIKA, Korean HRD, Department of Foreign Assistance Ministry of Commerce, China etc, he said.
NAVTTC chairman further said that as the CPEC project and other global emerging advancements were bringing technological innovations to Pakistan which required greater preparedness of youth in high-end and high-tech technologies. Therefore, keeping in view such needs, NAVTTC was identifying the demand for such high-end trades and the available institutional capacity for conducting training courses in these trades.
NAVTTC, Javed said, targets two major categories of interventions including, human resource development through youth skill development and up-gradation of TVET infrastructure at par with standards of local and international job market.
NAVTTV have also taken numerous steps for the enhancement of quality of training, i.e provision of training in accordance with national and international job markets in the most demanded trades especially in construction and hospitality sectors etc. It also included training programmes launched in Conventional, High-Tech / High-End, cutting edge technologies and industrial occupations.
“To cater the needs of the modern industry both nationally and internationally, with specific focus on the expected requirements for CPEC projects, NAVTTC introduced Skill trainings in High-Tech / High-End and cutting edge technologies aligned with ‘Industrial Revolution 4.0’ and the courses such as Mechatronics, Robotics, Industrial Automation, Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud Computing, Free Lancing had also been introduced in state of the art universities, institutions and Industries”.
He said that curricula of more than 100 trades have been completely updated and brought in accordance with demands of local and international job markets with technical assistance of development partners.
For the first time in history of Pakistan, a comprehensive accreditation regime for TVET sector has been introduced under which more than 400 TVET institutes and 1,500 training programmes have been accredited, he said.
One of the major reasons for non-performing TVET sector in Pakistan was the absence of strong industrial linkages. To overcome this deficiency, special emphasis has been laid on giving pivotal role to industry and private sector for TVET sector development in the country, he remarked.
For this purpose, three Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) have been established in the Construction & Hospitality, Renewable Energy, and Textile sectors.
The concept of Institute Management Committees (IMCs) has been introduced for the first time in the country, which gives greater representation to the private sector in the management and training delivery at the TVET institute level, added the chairman.
The industry has been actively involved in all aspects of training such as curricula development, final assessments, on-job training and selection of institutes, Javed Hassan concluded.