CHAIRMAN CPEC Authority Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa (Retd) on Saturday announced CPEC internship programme to provide opportunities to Pakistani youth to develop skills and experience in various fields. The Authority will select 100 people with maximum age of 30 years in three-month internship programme that will start in October 2020.
Ever since assuming charge of CPEC authority Saleem Bajwa has added value to the multi billion dollars corridor project. This new initiative of internship programme is a step in the right direction to prepare youth for future opportunities that will come in their way especially under the umbrella of CPEC. For success of this programme, it must be ensured that internships are given purely on merit alone. To make internship more effective in future, we will recommend that period of internship be enhanced from three months to one year and given the wide scope of CPEC, the number of internees should also be enhanced significantly. For instance, Pakistan Railways is all set to start work on ML-1 upgradation project. Apart from providing jobs to hundreds of thousands of youth, scores of others can be inducted on internship basis in this mega project, as it will help them attain necessary experience and qualify for other jobs in the market.
Similarly, Special Economic Zones offer great prospects both for jobs and internships. Negotiations should be held with companies interested for investment in the SEZs making it mandatory for them to induct young graduates on internship basis and if later found suitable to their requirements, also hire them on permanent basis. We will also suggest that universities and institutions establish direct links with industries in SEZs as it will also help them charter their courses according to requirements of the industry. It is also for the government to lay special emphasis on market oriented technical training of youth so that they could grab maximum job opportunities in CPEC related projects.
