Punjab sets three-year target to skill one million youth

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has set a target of training one million young people in professional and technical skills over the next three years. She chaired a special meeting on Sunday to review skill development projects and directed the departments concerned to expand training programmes in line with market demand.

The meeting approved Punjab's first Woodworking Center of Excellence and Centres of Excellence in electrical, vehicle technology and digital marketing. It also cleared agriculture-related training and a Heavy Machinery Operator Certification Programme, Daily Times reported.

Maryam Nawaz directed the introduction of a digital examination system with online registration, digital papers and QR codes. As proposed, the system would handle between 200,000 and 600,000 candidates.

Courses in 13 languages will be offered under the CM Language Learning Programme, the first such offering in Punjab. The province will also get its first cleaner academy, with the Punjab Cleaning and Care Academy training people in cleaning support, healthcare, hospitality and domestic assistance.

A briefing to the meeting said 400,000 young people had completed skill training in Punjab, more than 45 per cent of whom found work, while many others returned to education. The Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Department counted nearly 175,000 trained youth in jobs and more than 38,000 placed abroad.

Sector figures gave 113,333 trained in manufacturing, over 50,000 of them employed; 111,607 in IT with 49,588 earning; 35,227 in energy with 15,651 employed; 27,069 in construction with 12,026 employed; 23,269 in agriculture and livestock with 10,033 employed; and 15,319 in hospitality and tourism with 6,807 employed.

Of the total, 90,029 found work in local industries, 53,509 chose self-employment, 38,557 went abroad for work and 39,325 stayed in education. Under the Empowering Women through Information Technology programme, 3,000 rural women have started earning from home.

Some 15,065 teachers and staff members were trained, and infrastructure was upgraded with 220 computer laboratories, 100 industrial stitching laboratories, 70 solar laboratories and 27 healthcare laboratories, besides VR welding and electric vehicle laboratories.

The Mahir programme will train 25,000 young people in the industrial clusters of Lahore, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Gujranwala and Multan. Global Rozgar will train 25,000 for business process outsourcing and Advance Tech will give 7,500 international certifications. The Rs2.6 billion Hariyali programme covers 20,000 youth in agriculture and green fields.

Under Pehchaan, 2,474 transgender persons have completed training, and Umeed will train 10,000 persons with disabilities. Sixty-nine TEVTA institutions will train 45,700 young people a year under the European Qualifications Framework, the meeting was told.

A graduate of a Punjab technical college took fourth position at the 48th WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai.