By Dr. Saeed Ahmad Ali
LAHORE, Dec 09 (APP):Technical and vocational education in different fields has been seen as a silver bullet for developing countries to resolve their unemployment and import issues by preparing more and more technical hands for vibrant contribution to the national economy.
In countries like Pakistan where school dropouts number continues to rise in higher standards, capitalizing this potential by imparting technical and vocational education can mitigate the unemployment ratio as well as paving way for the students to produce a number of items indigenously.
Since we are a youth dominant society with majority of the young generation in rural areas lagging behind in quality education, therefore this bulge may become a demographic disaster if effective and urgent policies are not formulated to turn it into a bonus.
According to Youth Program data, the enrollment rates of primary versus middle schools are eye-opening with roughly 22.5 million children enrolling at primary schools drop to seven million at the middle-school level.
Similarly, Pakistan Labor Force Survey 2020-2021 reveals that out of 4.51 million unemployed people of working age, around 76 percent fall within the 15 to 35 years age bracket with 64 percent youth population under the age of 30 years. And if the present population growth rate continues, the country’s population is estimated to reach approximately to 280 million with 100 million youth exclusively.
Although recent youth initiatives have succeeded in creating new jobs, this number is too low to accommodate 1.5 million workforces entering the market every year.
“We need to harness this potential on a priority basis through effective policymaking and urgent measures to turn things around,” said Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Senior Vice President, Chaudhry Zafar Mahmood.
“We also need to identify specific groups among youth; guide them to technical and vocational education and ensure specific resources allocation with a clear definition of its utilization mechanism only for skills development,” he stated.
He said as remote areas are poverty-stricken, expanding the scope of entrepreneurship to these areas may also help create more jobs for the poor people. “If they are already equipped with technical and vocational expertise, they can be beneficial both for themselves and the national economy.”
Given the prevailing situation, there is a dire need for providing sufficient budgetary allocation, well-trained teachers, and better internet connectivity to help youth learn modern digital skills and benefit from virtual work opportunities.
Punjab Government spokesperson Musarrat Jamshed Cheema said that cognizant of the prevailing situation, the provincial government is focusing on modern technology education and digital work opportunities for youth by ensuring internet connectivity in rural areas.
“The government is also working on various entrepreneurship projects to create more jobs as well as help youth to become self-employed,” she remarked.
Although the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority are in place to harness the technical potential of youth and has launched its largest free-of-cost E-Learning Phase-I under ‘The Hunarmand Nojawan Programme,’ for 16,200 students, broadening its scope and making it more vibrant is direly needed.
“TEVTA has designed various technical courses to create jobs opportunities through entrepreneurship at local and international market,” said Aman Khawaja, Public Relation Officer at TEVTA. “We have designed auto parts, stitching, plastic manufacturing and bakers’ courses to meet local and international market demand.”
TEVTA has also started a joint technical education program in collaboration with TANG (a Chinese International Education Group) and Zalmi foundation in Diploma of Associate Engineering (DAE) discipline.
“This collaboration will help develop a technical force for absorption in China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and international exposure for students to demand-driven major technologies,” Aman Khawaja said. “Under this program, we have started three years Dual-Diploma wherein students will study two years at TEVTA colleges and one year at China’s technical or vocational college.”
He said, at present, students are studying construction and IT skills at the Advanced Construction Technology discipline at the Guangdong Institute of Architecture and Construction Engineering (China) and Shenzhen Institute of Information Technology.
As the government moves forward with its agenda of imparting technical education to as much students, the education experts underline well-planned initiatives and proper funding for the sector.
“We need a more focused and result-oriented approach for the technology sector to produce skilled workforce as per international requirements,” said Muhammad Zubair Khan, Principal, Govt. College of Technology Railway Road.
“Information Technology (IT) and short certificate courses should be made mandatory at all institutions and technical colleges and other related forums should organize ‘Job-Fairs’ for skilled people across the country,” he suggested.
He recommended to amend the technical education curriculum as per the national qualification framework and international needs. “We need a proactive approach to strengthen linkages between industry and academia to produce world quality workforce.”
Also advocating technical courses and job opportunities for special children who form 10 percent of the child population, Muhammad Zubair proposed to raise a squad of well-trained teachers to train all kinds of students.
“Congenial teaching modes, interesting syllabi, extensive scholarships and financial aid programs can also help attract more students to study at vocational institutes,” he pleaded.
