He was addressing a function in Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) here on Tuesday, in which tool kits were distributed among the passed out students of various NAVTTC courses. He said public sector had limited capacity to create new jobs and hence "we have to provide technical and vocational training so that a large chunk of youth could be accommodated in private sector or starts its own businesses."
He said initially NAVTTC had provided training to 25,000 youth. "Last year these numbers increased to 50,000 and from this year we will provide training to one lakh youth in market driven trades or sectors." He said training would be imparted in new trades in consultation with the local industrialists, adding that for the first time skills competitions were arranged in Pakistan on the pattern of Britain, Japan and other developed countries.
Supporting the idea of skill competitions, he said those competitions actually played a catalytic role in enhancing the skills and play an instrumental role in the capacity building of our youth. He said those competitions were held at district, provincial and federal level while top position holders were presented lucrative cash prizes. He further said federal level function was held in President House and President of Pakistan himself distributed prizes among the top position holders. Similarly, provincial prize distribution ceremonies were held in concerned Governor Houses.
Zulfiqar Ahamad Cheema disclosed that Skills Councils for each trade would be constituted to provide quality training in each sector. Quoting CPEC, he said it would create thousands of jobs and trained students would be fully competent to meet the requirements of their foreign employers. He said more institutions would also be established to provide world class training to the Pakistani youth.
He mentioned his meeting with the Vice Chancellor of the Government College University Faisalabad who has disclosed that this university is also going to set up a technical centre which will cater to the technical needs of the local industry. He also mentioned that FATA student were fully satisfied with the training imparted by NAVTTC. They had confessed that the tool kit provided by NAVTTC after completion of the courses would be their future weapon and they would fight against poverty with this tool kit.
Earlier, President FCCI Engineer Mohammad Saeed Sheikh in his address of welcome termed CPEC as a double edged sword and said "we must try to fully exploit its benefits."
SVP FCCI Rana Sikandar Azam appreciated the commitment, dedication, honesty and integrity of Zulfiqar Ahamd Cheema and said he was a role model officer for the bureaucracy of Pakistan. He said only 20 such committed officers could change the fate of Pakistan.
Zulfiqar Ahamd Cheema, Engineer Mohammad Saeed Sheikh, Rana Sikandar Azam and other guest distributed tool kits among the passed out students of NAVTTC. Later, Engineer Mohammad Saeed Sheikh also presented a CPEC study report to Zulfiqar Ahamd Cheema, executive director NAVTTC. This book was especially prepared and published by the R&D cell of FCCI.