So much so, the Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has himself urged the policy makers to initiate a crash programme for skills training on his October 11 visit to the Ministry of Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis, which again substantiates the dismal situation on the ground.
No doubt, amidst the changing trends of the globalised markets and competition, Pakistan's international competitiveness depends upon high quality secondary, tertiary and vocational education systems and skills training.
These are not encompassed in the Social Action Programme but are nonetheless in desperate need of attention and resources. There are signs that skilled labour shortages are already a limiting factor in Pakistan's industrial growth.
The current level of unemployment/underemployment is estimated to be 16% of the population of working age, or 5.8 million. With a 2.8% rate of population growth, another 1.1 million young people will be added to the labour pool every year, at least half of whom cannot expect to find work at the present rate of labour absorption.
Here it may be pointed out that the exporters are already paying export-development cess at the rate of 0.25 percent of FOB value of exports and these funds are being utilised to set up vocational training centres by various exporter's associations. There is a need to set up a committee, comprising government officials and private sector representatives, to oversee the early implementation of these projects.
So far as the public sector is concerned, the National Training Bureau (Directorate General of Technical Training) an attached department of Manpower Division was established with the objectives to formulate and implement vocational training policies and to facilitate training of skilled workers to meet domestic and overseas labour requirements.
The legal and operative framework for the training of youth has been established in the shape of the National Training Ordinance 1980.
Vocational Training Programmers in Pakistan are being administered by a number of Federal, Provincial and Private agencies, eg Government Vocational Institutes (GVIs), are administered by the Provincial Education Department and Technical Training Centers (TTCs), Vocational training centers (VTCs), Government Vocational Institute (GVI) and Apprenticeship Training Centers (ATCs) are administered by the Provincial Labour Departments.
Similarly, the In-Plant training Programmers ie Apprenticeship Training under the Apprenticeship Training Ordinance, 1962 are administered by the Provincial Directorates of Manpower and Training of Labour Departments in the establishment employing 50 or more workers.
The Punjab government, in consultation with the Islamic Ideology Council and with the consent of the religious scholars, started the utilisation of Zakat funds for poverty alleviation by providing training in demand-driven skills to the deserving ones as admissible under section 8 of the Zakat and Ushr Ordinance 1980. It was also ensured that the provision of such training should be at the doorstep of deserving ones.
Punjab Vocation Training Council (PVTC) was set up under the PVTC Act 1998 in order to establish and manage Vocational Training Institutes (VTIs). The Council is an autonomous corporate body constituted by the government, consisting of upto 15 members, out of which 3 are ex-officio Secretaries to the Punjab government. It has further been made mandatory that the Chairman and all members of the Council should work voluntarily on an honorary basis.
Among the objectives of the PVTC, the foremost is the setting up of at least two VTI in each Tehsil, to impart intensive training in employable skills to Mustahqeen as per local demand for their permanent rehabilitation, on the job training and placement of the pass-outs with the help of the private sector.
The idea of VTIs is unique in itself as it aims at imparting training only to Mustahqeen-e-Zakat, makes productive use of Zakat funds and there is no burden on the government exchequer for recurring expenditure. Similarly, it offers demand-driven training to the deserving ones in the industrial, agriculture and service sectors.
It also arranges the Ministry of Religious Affairs stipend, which include Rs500 per month to each trainee for personal expenditure and a special grant of Rs5000 for the purchase of tools at successful completion. It is an effort to control rising levels of poverty and exploitation of child labour in the country.
It is also ensured that the training should be given in context with the specific needs of a particular area, having a VTI under the PVTC. Similarly, each trainee is given on the job training as part of the curriculum.
The PVTC management also prefers to use vacant or under-utilised government buildings to keep capital cost to a minimum level.
According to the figures available, the PVTC has so far established 60 VTIs against only 20 in February 2003 where 14,000 have passed out in 2004 against 4500 in early 2003. At present, the trainees' on-roll is around 10,000 against 2485 in February 2003.
But the question arises is this all enough? Certainly not. The business community feels that the dream of expansion of the existing capacities could not come true unless the country is abundant in a large number of skilled labour.
However, the critics are also blaming the businessmen associations, chambers and such other organisations for not projecting the issue at the appropriate time. All such forums have been found busy in their internal feuds, especially during the last one-decade, without realising the changing demands of world trade.
Particularly, when all such trade forums are supposed to play an active role in running technical training institutes as well as extensive research work throughout the developed western world.
Germany could be quoted as a leading example in this regard where the number of chambers of commerce and industry is very large but each of them is assigned to run technical training institute as well as conduct detailed research on the trade profiles of countries around the world.
Therefore, the business community cannot exclude from the responsibility and criticise the government for not ensuring a sufficient number of skilled labour in the country.
There is an urgent need of a public-private partnership like the Punjab Vocational Training Council. Unless, the private sector is involved in the development of the infrastructure and human resource development, the country cannot get back on track.