The Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) and the 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 across the country.

Speaking on the occasion, PSDF Chief Operating Officer, Ali Akbar Bosan, stressed the need to learn international practices and improve the local curriculum to global standards.

“There is a need to bridge the gap between the local and international curriculum so the country produces skilled manpower in accordance with international demand,” Mr Bosan said, adding that by doing so, the Pakistani workforce can place itself better in the international market.

NAVTCC Chairperson 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.

There is also a need to focus more on Balochistan for churning out more and more training there,” she said.

PSDF Board member, Dr Ijaz Nabi, observed that by signing the MoU with NAVTTC, the PSDF has now been moving towards its objective of creating a skill development institution.

He further suggested expanding the PSDF across the country and industries other than through government funding.

By the virtue of MoU, the outreach of PSDF has now expanded across the country, previously limited to Punjab.

As per a statement, collaborative efforts would be made in digital training and certifi cations of locally trained youth so they could be placed in the international market easily.

Both the organisations also agreed to conduct the sector studies and training need analysis (TNA) for local and international demand generation, other than the studies and impact evaluations of the skills training programmes.

Both the organisations will collaborate in imparting skills training to the youth of the country through training programmes in the construction, hospitality, and IT sectors.

These trainings will be imparted with a focus on at least 30 per cent of graduates getting employment,” it stated.

The training would be imparted in 16 districts across the country, including Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Rahim Yar Khan, Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Peshawar, Nowshera, Abbottabad, Quetta, Gilgit, and Muzaffarabad.

Furthermore, both organisations have agreed to collaborate on curriculum upgrades.

The graduates of the skill development courses offered by the Punjab Skill Development Fund (PSDF) have the capacity to earn more as compared to the others.

According to an in-depth study conducted by the Centre for Research in Economics and Business (CREB) of the Lahore School of Economics revealed that a set of courses offered by the PSDF to youth of the Punjab has resulted in gaining of their monthly income more than Rs 14,000.

The study elaborated that the PSDF initiated a partnership with Coursera, a renowned online learning platform that offers more than 7,000 courses designed by international organizations and universities to the youth of the Punjab in order to bring them at the forefront of the digital revolution.

A certificate from Coursera platform not only opens doors to the youth in Pakistan alone but also around the world, making Pakistani them globally competitive.

According to the official data of Ministry of IT and Telecommunication (MoITT), the year 2022 saw a growth of 2.74 percent as foreign exchange from freelancing stood at $397.328 million as compared to 396.243 million in 2021 in Pakistan. There were around 3 million freelancers in Pakistan in 2022. Pakistan is emerging as a hub for freelancers, and the income potential is limitless.

The study revealed that more than 1200 students completed the internationally recognized Coursera courses from the PSDF platform. Furthermore, to substantiate the impact of this collaboration is witnessed in the income of these graduates.

The transition-to-work is 9 percent points higher amongst trainees who completed the course and were unemployed before the programme and experiencing income gains exceedingly more than Rs 14,000 per month.

This showcases the tremendous potential that these courses offer, with Python, financial accounting, and graphic design courses ranking among the top three contributors to higher income gains.

According to the SBP report, Pakistan sees an annual supply of 20,000 to 25,000 fresh engineering and IT graduates but only 10 percent IT graduates are employable. There is a huge skills gap in the global IT requirements. The courses offered by the PSDF in collaboration with Coursera is helping the youth to unleash these opportunities.