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The course curricula should be revised periodically through flexible approaches based on the learning outcome. More and more popular and market-oriented courses need to be introduced.
The key to economic growth and industrialization is a skilled and well-trained workforce. We are at the crossroads of the history with a number of opportunities knocking at our door. Now it is up to us whether we avail of the opportunities or just let them go wasted. This is a critical time of our history when the country is passing through the demographic transition. This is the time to develop the youth by training them in various skills through investment with the purpose of education and training. By developing this resource we can capitalize the demographic dividends. This requires political commitment to make decisions to allocate adequate funds to human resource development and equip our youth with modern skills especially through education and training.
In this age of liberalization and globalization, Pakistan still lags behind with regard to the training of a satisfactory number of people in different specialised fields. Every year millions of students graduate but they do not have specific skills valued in the market. If this trend continues, it would further aggravate the unemployment problem and thus affect the economic growth in the long run.
Perhaps the biggest advantages of technical and vocational education training (TVET) to economy are to help fight unemployment and alleviate poverty. In fact, it has also been referred to as a solution to terrorism, crimes and other social problems. The time is ripe for such investment and setting the goals for our future course of action. We need to make policies which are not only relevant but implementable. We have the best policies but our implementation side is weak. So along with the policy options we need to look into the issues of implementation also.
Challenges of the Skill Development
The current state of TVET is not very encouraging. We need at least a million skilled workers every year to cater to our industry and other sectors. The strength of skilled workers in the country however remains just around 300,000. It is heartening to note that hardly 16.3 per cent of the youth cohort completes secondary education, with the result that more than three-quarters leave educational institutions without foundational or life skills. The majority of Pakistan’s emerging labour force is either without education and skills or has very little of both. Thus the sustainable delivery of quality TVET is critical to the attainment of Pakistan’s economic development goals. The Father of the Nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had also stressed the need for scientific and technical education to build the economic future of Pakistan.
The other challenge of the system is that it does not give due importance to vocational and technical education. This has resulted in the mismatch between the skilled manpower required and the skilled manpower available. Majority of workers in the tattered economy have never been to vocational training institutions, not to speak of their for mal schooling. Moreover, vocational training courses lack market responsiveness. The participation/contribution of the industry in the development of curricula is also limited. Due to this reason there are insufficient linkages with industries and coverage of trades in the service sector which has higher employment potential.
The training infrastructure of the country is also weak. There is a shortage of trained teachers and trainers to handle courses and train at the geographic level. Moreover, lack of adequate buildings, modern equipment and raw material makes it hard to organize courses. The other noticeable challenge, as one of the reasons, is unattractiveness of vocational education because of the low economic/financial returns received by vocational and technical graduates. There are limited scholarship schemes and the drop-out rate of graduates is high because of non-availability of sufficient scholarships.
The Father of the Nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had also stressed the need for scientific and technical education to build the economic future of Pakistan.
In order to address the above-mentioned challenges, the goals of vocational training programmes in Pakistan need to be promoted in a big way. The following strategies may be adopted:
Vocational education should be provided out of the mainstream education and there is a need to expand and upgrade the existing TVET system. The emphasis on TVET may have been stronger on tertiary programmes, yet there is a need to create clear and strong linkages with the general vocational education and training system. Technical education needs to be expanded so as to prompt the research trend in educational institutions;
The educational pattern at the school level should be redesigned to facilitate skill development. Integration of vocational education is needed at this level. It should be subsidised and scholarships/stipends should be awarded to deserving students;
Substantial expansion and improvement in quality of vocational education and training is required at all levels for raising employability and productivity. Proper teaching materials must be developed keeping in view the requirements of different trades;
The course curricula should be revised periodically through flexible approaches based on the learning outcome. More and more popular and market-oriented courses need to be introduced;
Vocational education should be more computer-based and computerized programmes should be part of the general curriculum. The pattern of training should meet the new and changing business requirements. There is a need for creation of extensive skill development opportunities and infrastructure;
The government should actively work on promotion of industry and academia interaction to narrow the existing gap between demand and supply of skilled workers. Moreover, awareness among the general public about these programmes should be created extensively. There is a lack of awareness about the type of courses, trades, institutions and opportunities available in case of TVET. The awareness campaign should be such that it provides all possible information in various fields through various means;
The government should actively work on promotion of industry and academia interaction to narrow the existing gap between demand and supply of skilled workers.
Vocational education is not easily accessible to deserving students, particularly in rural areas. It is, therefore, essential to plan vocational education at the post-secondary level through distance learning mode to help the unemployed youth, rural people, drop-outs and unskilled industrial workers to improve their knowledge, skills and job potential.
National Training Programme (NPP)
Enhancing employability of the educated unemployed, a national-level training programme – with a stipend and active collaboration of the industry representatives – needs to be launched. It should be in phases and different training programmes should be launched in different cities depending on their skill requirements. The long-term educated (ten years of education and over) unemployed groups having more than one year of unemployment spell should be targeted for such schemes.
The qualifying conditions for this programme could be:
I- Talented students who scored high grades in their education careers;
II- Unemployed for more than a year, and;
III- The household earnings are below certain threshold level (those households who qualify for public assistance/Zakat or other charity may be considered).
This programme can be gradually expanded to cover other groups qualifying the laid-down criteria. The National Vocational and Technical Education Commission (NEVTEC) in collaboration with the National Training Bureau (NTB) and Skill Development Council (SDC) need to be entrusted to conduct training programmes. The infrastructure of existing institutions can be fully utilised. For financing, the best practice is to go for public-private partnership scheme because that is doable and sustainable.
If these policies and schemes are implemented in letter and spirit, it can sail the country through current rough waters towards bright future with high employment and sustainable economic growth.
