Rana Shahwaiz Aslam
Technical education is always essential for the development of any country. Pakistan has witnessed massive industrial and infrastructural development in recent years.
This industrial and infrastructural development cannot be attained without converging the technical and education in the country. It is the technical and vocational education which provides the skilled manpower for the industry and infrastructure construction.
By technical education I mean to transform the unskilled and uneducated hands into skilled and educated hands which can build the nation by playing their role in the industrial and infrastructural development of any country.
I would like to exemplify Japan here which has become a giant in the field of technology and has made its economy as one of the stable and strongest economies of the world. In Pakistan, there is an organization which is striving hard for the advancement of technical education. Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA) Punjab in this regard have started to inculcate the technical education through the technical institutions. TEVTA is imparting technical education through polytechnic, vocational training centers, apprenticeship schemes, various training and vocational institutions.
TEVTA is providing technical and vocational training in more than 400 institutes in Punjab. It is to mention that TEVTA Punjab, being largest TVET Service Provider with its network of more than 400 institutes located all over the Punjab, is offering demand driven training program for the youth of the province. TEVTA Punjab under Minister of Industries, Commerce, Investment and Skills Development Department (ICI&SD) is continuously endeavoring to explore potential sector for skills training to the youth and strengthening industry academia linkage in order to create maximum placement opportunity for its graduates.
Although TEVTA is serving the TVET sector for last two decades but a significance change was observed in last few months. Especially, when the current Secretary ICI&SDD Ehsan Bhutta took charge of TEVTA as Chairperson. Many notable initiatives in various dimensions were taken for uplifting the skills sector and quality of education in TEVTA Punjab.
I would like to mention these imitative one by one to let my readers know about these initiatives. TEVTA and ICI&SDD in collaboration with Schools Education Department (SED), Higher Education Department (HED) launched first ever tripartite agreement for Summer School Camp. According to this agreement, free of cost skill based training programs of 3 months duration were introduced for the students of public schools and colleges during summer vacations. Now ICI&SDD (TEVTA) is successfully imparting skills in 14 trades at 25 selected TEVTA institutes in all divisional headquarters of Punjab.
TEVTA also launched awareness campaign across Punjab in the public schools and colleges. During this campaign, more than 24,000 students/ parents participated in 178 seminars throughout the Punjab province.
Since the inception of the program, soft skills including language and communication skills, work ethics & co-curricular activities are being paid special attention through celebrating Students Day across Punjab.
Another important project is about training for the students of the Deeni Madaris in collaboration with Auqaf & Religious Affairs Department. In Deeni Madaris, religious education is imparted with the focus on spiritual and moral grooming of the students. ICI&SDD identified the need for blending this education with a diverse skill set enabling the individuals to thrive in various walks of life.
Based on the above objectives and in order to enable the students of Deeni Madaris to join the economic workforce of the country, ICI&SDD (TEVTA) has joined hands with Auqaf & Religious Affairs Department for providing vocational training at Jamia Hajveria, Data Darbar, Lahore. Further, with the collaboration with Directorate of Religious Education Punjab, SED, will provide vocational training to the students of Deeni Madaris in Districts Lahore, Sargodha & Faisalabad.
I think in Pakistan there are no such programs for prisoners like in west and other countries. But TEVTA Punjab brought out a program for the vocational training for prisoners in collaboration with Home Department and IG Prisons. Since the year 2015, TEVTA in collaboration with Home Department is imparting training to the prisoners at 15 locations (Jails) in 16 trades across Punjab and in this first phase approx. 20,000 prisoners have been successfully trained.Preserving historical buildings is essential for safeguarding cultural heritage, promoting education and tourism, and fostering a sense of community pride and identity. TEVTA possesses one of the oldest heritage buildings at Lahore namely Sir Shadi Lal Building located in GCT Lytton Road, Lahore, which was constructed in 1909 by Sir Shadi Lal, former Chief Justice of Lahore High Court. In conclusion, it is very essential and crucial that effective and good quality technical education is offered to all the individuals so that they excel in their professional life. As I earlier mentioned that world’s leading economies gave priority to this education which not only educate a child, provide knowledge but also provide them skill which the conventional education cannot provide them. Parents should send their students to schools and college but after Matriculation and Intermediate, they should let their child learn technical education and vocational training. They would not just get skills but they would get the proper earning.
