KARACHI:“It is high time that girls and youth acquire skill education and emerge as an active workforce of the country, which is direly needed in today’s competitive job market. Vocational education, along with conventional education, will equip girls with the much needed skills and will help them in getting decent employment in fields other than the conventional fields which are so far being occupied by the female workforce in this country.”
This was stated by Region Director Sind Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (STEVTA), Syed Kamal Mustafa, while inaugurating the Job Fair and Skill Show 2019, being held at the Government College of Technology (Girls), Kareemabad.
Being the oldest technical institute of Karachi, GCTG Kareemabad actually provides three-year Diploma of Associate Engineers (DAE) in various trades including Food Technology, Garments, Electronics and Architecture. But last year, contrary to its tradition, it offered short courses to the students. Job Fair and Skill Show was arranged for the girls of the college, who were trained in four short duration trades vis a vis IT Office Assistant, IT Computer Operator, Hospitality Cook and Textile Dress Making.
As many as 100 students were trained in these four trades under competency-based education method, in which they took five-month training in the college and then did their one-month internship at the industry in the real industry environment. During their coursework, industry visits, guest lectures and career counseling sessions improved their confidence and removed their initial fear of working in the industry.
These courses were part of a special training fund for Sindh and Baluchistan, which was set up by the TVET Sector Support Programme, funded by the European Union and Germany and Norwegian governments in order to prepare young people for the labour market. The fund supports training institutes to develop and provide tailor-made programmes for enterprises. The objective is to facilitate the training of 18,000 men and women in Sindh and Balochistan and assist them in finding employment after graduation.
Many renowned industries of Karachi has set up their stalls at the fair, to directly interact with the passed out students of these courses and conducted their interviews for any jobs available in their respective organisations, according to the skills of the students. As one of the industry representatives put it: “Such job fairs are the best opportunity for the employers to look for employees according to their needs, instead of going through a long procedure of advertising and selecting the candidates. The data bank of such students should be shared with the industry who can directly contact educational institutes to provide them their required workforce. They can also tell the Institutes about any skills which they will require in future so that the Institutes could equip their students accordingly.”
After the inauguration of the job fair, the chief guest visited various stalls and saw the dresses and food items on display, produced by the students. In the end, the girls showcased their own designed dresses in the fashion show, which was held in the auditorium of the college. The dresses received great applause from the audience, which included college faculty teachers, students and their families.