Islamabad, August 13, 2020 (PPI-OT):National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) is going to upgrade and enhance capacity of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutes across the country by transferring state of the art Chinese technology to meet requirements of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) skilled workforce. For this purpose, China is providing technical training equipment worth PKR 650 million for establishing smart classrooms in 50 Pakistani institutes.
A meeting was held between Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training, Mr. Shafqat Mehmood and Chinese Ambassador H.E. Mr. Yao Jing at NAVTTC HQs today for this purpose and to discuss further areas of collaboration in TVET sector between China and Pakistan. “Pak-China Friendship has entered a new era of cooperation through initiation of socio-economic support by Chinese Government under CPEC” said the Federal Minister. “We are very keen to have close synergy and cooperation with China, the closest friend of Pakistan of all times, and collaboration in TVET sector will help us analyze what kind of jobs and training are required to meet the needs of CPEC mega projects including ML-1”, the Minister added.
“NAVTTC being the premier TVET organization and also a member of CPEC socio-economic Development Working Group will work closely with Chinese companies and CPEC Authority to prepare Pakistani workforce as per the needs of different kind of projects”, he added. 11-member Chinese delegation led by the Ambassador of China, H.E. Mr. Yao Jing, Parliamentary Secretary to M/o FE and PT, Ms. Wajiha Akram, Chairman NAVTTC, Syed Javed Hassan, Executive Director NAVTTC, Dr. Nasir Khan, were present in the meeting. The Minster apprised the delegation about the country’s largest skill Development Programme “Hunarmand Pakistan” under the supervision of NAVTTC, and said a large number of Pakistani youth are being trained in high end trades including artificial intelligence, cloud computing, automation etc. and conventional trades including electrician, plumbing etc.
The Minister told the delegation that for the first time in the country, a National Accreditation Council is being established to ensure a uniform certification regime that will be accepted in both the local and international markets. We are establishing international linkages in TVET sector that will help us gain global experience, he said. We are grateful to China for its never ending support and look forward to start various joint programmes for skill development of Pakistan, he stated. The ambassador of China, H.E Mr. Yao Jing congratulated the government for successful control and prevention of coronavirus and expressed hope that it will open new windows and opportunities for Pakistan to grow economically.
“The pandemic is far from over but I believe that Pakistan will manage it successfully,” the Ambassador stated. He appreciated the steps of the government taken to boost local industries including shipping and construction and various projects initiated for human resource development. The Ambassador said that many Chinese companies are waiting for investment in Gwadar and thousands of jobs will be available soon for Pakistani skilled workforce. 90 percent of labour for CPEC projects will be local and for training of engineers we will jointly launch various scholarship programmes. He also mentioned that 3 Pakistani engineers will be associated with 1 Chinese engineer for these projects.
20,000 scholarships and 1500 short term internship programmes to Pakistani workforce are in pipeline which will be started post Covid-19. Vocational education is a major area of CPEC bilateral collaboration and soon we will start training in agriculture sector to boost rural areas of the country. A National Vocational Institute is under construction in Gwadar and another one will be established soon, he said. The Chairman NAVTTC, Syed Javed Hassan thanked China for its support in TVET sector and said, “This initiative will help to improve the overall image of TVET institutes of Pakistan by enhancing Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) facilities for improved teaching and learning”.
Under this 650 million PKR project 50 smart class rooms will be established in leading TVET institutes across the country related to SEZs and annually around 50,000 TVET graduates would benefit from this project. Moreover equipment for 500 class rooms will also be provided by China under this initiative. Under this project course contents at the TVET institutes will be brought in line with the skill requirements of latest ICT curriculum to fulfill skill requirements of CPEC projects that will enable our skilled youth to gain employment in CPEC projects. Local institutes will be affiliated with the best Chinese TVET training institutes and students and trainers’ exchange and capacity building programmes would also be launched.
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