Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) and National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) through which PSDF will impart training on behalf of NAVTTC among the youth of across the country.

By the MOU, the outreach of PSDF has now expanded across the country, from earlier being limited to Punjab.

collaborative efforts would be made in digital training and certifications of locally trained youth so that they can be placed in the international market easily.

Both organizations also agreed to conduct the sector studies/Training Need Analysis for local and international demand generation, other than the tracer studies and impact evaluations of the skills training programs.

Both organizations will collaborate in imparting skills training to the youth of the country in the training programs in the Construction, Hospitality, and IT Sectors. This training will be imparted with a focus to at least 30 percent of graduates getting employment. the training would be imparted in 16 districts across the country including, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Rahim Yar Khan, Karachi, Hyderabad, Sakhar, Peshawar, Nowshera, Abbottabad, Quetta, Gilgit, Muzaffarabad.

Furthermore, both organizations have agreed to collaborate in curriculum upgradation and development of the TVET sector.

Speaking on the occasion, COO PSDF Ali Akbar Bosan stressed the need to learn international practices and improve the local TVET curriculum to global standards. ‘There is a need to bridge the gap between the local and international curriculum so the country produces the skilled manpower by the international demand’, he said adding that by doing so Pakistani workforce can be placed in a better way in the international market.

Chairperson of NAVTCC Gulmina Bilal Ahmad urged imposing the youth emergency. There is a need to take targeted steps to stop failing the youth and make them useful and important to society. She stressed the need for more on Balochistan to churn out more and more training there.

Board member of PSDF Dr Ijaz Nabi observed that by signing the MOU with NAVTTC, the PSDF has been now moving towards its objectivity of creating a skill development institution. He suggested more expansion of the PSDF across the country and industries other than the government funding.