APBF leadership calls for promoting technical and skills development
Our Correspondent
Islamabad
The government is fully committed to convert the youth of Pakistan into an economic force, as the country has the largest population of young people ever recorded in the history. This was stated by Special Advisor to Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Usman Dar while talking to APBF President Syed Maaz Mahmood and general secretary Khurram Niaz Khan who met him in his office today.
The PM Special Advisor said that huge investment is being made in the youth to capitalize the immense potential of the country.
Usman Dar said that first-ever comprehensive National Youth Development Framework (NYDF) had been developed to ensure quality education, gainful employment and meaningful engagement of youth in economic activities.
Usman Dar said that there are three phases of a successful youth program; the first phase is of loan of Rs100,000 to Rs1 million with a markup of only 3 percent. He said that so far loans of Rs5.9 billion have been given to the youth. Under the Successful Youth Program Scheme, no political affiliation is taken into account for the loan.
The advisor said that Pakistan is the fifth most populous country in the world. Currently, it has the largest population of young people ever recorded in national history. As many as 64 percent of Pakistanis are below the age of 30, and 29 per cent are aged between 15-29 years while the youth between 15-29 years make up 41.6 per cent of Pakistan’s total labour force.
Special Advisor to PM said that Kamyab Jawan programme is aimed at polishing the skills and abilities of the youth so that they could emerge as job providers and economy boosters instead of job seekers.
APBF President Syed Maaz Mahmood, on this occasion, called for promoting technical and skills development in the country, stating that only skilled youth can match the private sector’s human resource requirements, besides uplifting national economy especially in post-corona economic slowdown.
He said that four million Pakistani youth attain working age every year. He added that it was necessary to ensure opportunity for the youth of Pakistan that would allow them to work as driving force for economic progress and prosperity of the country.
He added that majority of young people go abroad to find out good employment opportunities and this brain-drain was a great economic loss to the country. He mentioned that migration rate of skilled manpower had increased in recent past and a developing country like Pakistan could not afford loss of human resources.
He also called for strong industry-academia linkage saying that it would help produce suitable human resources for the industry. He urged the government to create new jobs in power, mining, manufacturing and service industry.
Syed Maaz Mahmood said the gap between demand and supply of skilled workforce is due to limited cooperation between the public and the private sector in planning and implementation of technical education.
APBF President said that millions of youth have been entering the labour market while formal technical education system can only accommodate limited number of trainees annually especially in the post-corona shrinking economy.
