Musharraf Okays roadmap to produce skilled Workforce
By Aziz Malik 'Pakistan Times' Federal Bureau Chief

ISLAMABAD: President General Pervez Musharraf assured on Thursday the government's full support to promoting technical and vocational training across the country as he okayed a roadmap to substantially improve quality and number of work force per annum to meet demands of fast-paced industrial development.

He was speaking at a meeting of National Vocational and Technical Education Comission, which has been tasked to revamp existing vocational infrastructure and set up training centers in all parts of the country.

President Musharraf set a five-year timeframe for improvement in the vocational and technical education system and stressed that its impact on the national economy should be visible within a year.

"We must improve curricula at these institutes and ramp up the capacity to produce skilled workforce of international quality as it will not only open opportunities for people at the grass roots level but also raise their profile and demand as workers in advanced and industrialized countries," he stated.

On short-term and long-term objectives of better vocational and technical education, he said a trained manpower would bolster value addition in traditional sectors of the Pakistani economy as well as fulfill the needs of fast-expanding industries and engineering sector.

Currently, the number of skilled workers are being produced at various institutions but the number falls short of the industry's requirements, which has been growing rapidly in recent years in sectors including information technology, tourism services, commercial support, livestock, transport, medical transcription workers etc.

"We must harmonize skills of our younger generation in accordance with their local economic potential and at the same time be conscious of the need to meet the demand of international investors who see Pakistan as a favourable destination for using it as base for export to regional countries," the President said.

Later, Chairman NAVTEC Altaf M Saleem told newsmen that revamping of technical and vocational training will be carried out in the form of providing better training facilities, trained faculty and equipment at these institutions.

He said in addition to the government financial support for improvement in the sector would come from private sector, industry and foreign sources.

"The government has assured of full support and the President has also highlighted the importance of participation of the industry and private sector in improving the standard and production capacity of vocational and technical education," he said.

The meeting was attended by Ministers for Education, Industries and Special Initiatives, Labour Manpower and Overseas Pakistan, Advisor to PM on Finance and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission.●