Pak-China Friendship Enters New Era of Cooperation: Shafqat Mahmood

ISLAMABAD, Aug 13 (APP): Federal Minister for Education & Professional Training Shafqat Mehmood on Thursday said that Pak-China friendship had entered a new era of cooperation through the initiation of socio-economic support by the Chinese Government under CPEC.

He stated this in a meeting with Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing here. An 11-member Chinese delegation was led by the Ambassador of China, Yao Jing. Parliamentary Secretary to M/O FE&PT, Wajiha Akram, Chairman NAVTTC, Syed Javed Hassan, Executive Director NAVTTC, Dr. Nasir Khan, were also present in the meeting.

The minister said that “We are very keen to have close synergy and cooperation with China, the closest friend of Pakistan of all times, and collaboration in TVET sector will help us analyze what kind of jobs and training are required to meet the needs of CPEC mega projects including ML-1.”

“NAVTTC being the premier TVET organization and also a member of CPEC Socio-Economic Development Working Group will work closely with Chinese companies and the CPEC Authority to prepare the Pakistani workforce as per the needs of different kind of projects”, he added.

The minster apprised the delegation about the country’s largest skill development programme, “Hunarmand Pakistan”, under the supervision of NAVTTC, and said a large number of Pakistani youth were being trained in high end trades including artificial intelligence, cloud computing, automation etc and conventional trades including electrician, plumbing etc.

The minister told the delegation that for the first time in the country, a National Accreditation Council was being established to ensure a uniform certification regime that would be accepted in both the local and international markets. “We are establishing international linkages in TVET sector that will help us gain global experience”, he said. The minister said Pakistan was grateful to China for its never ending support and looks forward to start various joint programmes for skill development in the country.

The ambassador of China, Yao Jing congratulated the government for successful control and prevention of the coronavirus and expressed hope that it would open new windows and opportunities for Pakistan to grow economically.

“The pandemic is far from over but I believe that Pakistan will manage it successfully”, the ambassador stated.

He appreciated the steps of the government taken to boost local industries including shipping and construction and various projects initiated for human resource development. The ambassador said that many Chinese companies were waiting for investment in Gawadar and thousands of jobs would be available soon for the Pakistani skilled workforce.

“90 percent of labour for CPEC projects will be local and for training of engineers, we will jointly launch various scholarship programmes”, he added.

He also mentioned that 3 Pakistani engineers would be associated with 1 Chinese engineer for these projects. “20,000 scholarships and 1500 short term internship programmes to Pakistani workforce are in pipeline which will be started post Covid-19. Vocational education is a major area of CPEC bilateral collaboration and soon we will start training in agriculture sector to boost rural areas of the country. A National Vocational Institute is under construction in Gawadar and another one will be established soon”, he said.

Chairman NAVTTC, Syed Javed Hassan thanked China for its support in TVET sector and said, “This initiative will help to improve the overall image of TVET institutes of Pakistan by enhancing Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) facilities for improved teaching and learning.”

The National Vocational & Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) is going to upgrade and enhance the capacity of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutes across the country by transferring state of the art Chinese technology to meet the requirements of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) skilled workforce.

For this purpose, China is providing technical training equipment worth Rs 650 million for establishing smart classrooms in 50 Pakistani institutes Under this Rs 650 million project, 50 smart class rooms will be established in leading TVET institutes across the country related to SEZs and annually around 50,000 TVET graduates will benefit from the project. Moreover equipment for 500 class rooms will also be provided by China under this initiative. Under this project, course contents at the TVET institutes will be brought in line with the skill requirements of latest ICT curriculum to fulfil skill requirements of CPEC projects that will enable the skilled youth to gain employment in CPEC projects.

Local institutes will be affiliated with the best Chinese TVET training institutes and students and trainers’ exchange and capacity building programmes will also be launched.

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