Prime Minister’s Youth Programme is a remarkable initiative of the PML-N government for the socio-economic development of youth in a bid to combat soaring unemployment in the country. This Programme has broad canvas of schemes enabling youth and poor segments of population to get good opportunities of employment, economic empowerment, acquiring skills needed for gainful employment, access to IT and imparting on-the-job training for young graduates to improve the probability of getting a productive job
Prime Minister’s Youth Programme includes 06 schemes: PM’s Youth Business Loan Scheme, PM’s Interest Free Loan Scheme, PM’s Youth Skill Development Programme, PM’s (National) Programme for Provision of Laptops to Talented Students, PM’s Fee Reimbursement Scheme for Less Developed Areas, and PM’s Youth Training Scheme.
Under PM’s Youth Business Loan Scheme, 17,547 loan cases worth Rs. 17.6 Billion have been disbursed so far. The recovery rate is 90% with 10% NPL ratio. These are subsidized business loans at 6% mark up for a period of 8 years, and are granted after satisfactory evaluation of borrower’s business feasibility by the bank. Under PM’s Interest Free Loan Scheme, more than 250,000 interest free loans amounting to Rs. 5.6 Billion have been awarded to poorest of the poor people in 427 Union councils of 44 districts across Pakistan. 62% of the loan beneficiaries are female, and the recovery rate of the scheme is 99%.
PM’s Youth Skill Development Programme has so far trained 75,000 youth, both male and female, in more than 100 demand-driven traded across Pakistan as per NFC award quotas. Training classes of another 25,000 trainees under Phase III (Batch-II) has commenced on 02 January 2017. 33% of the total training slots are reserved for female trainees. Madaaris graduates and disabled youth are also catered to under this scheme.
Under PM’s (National) Programme for Provision of Laptops to Talented Students Phase-I & II, so far more than 182,000 laptops have been distributed among Ph.D/ MPhil/NS. Masters’ and bachelors’ students of 97 HEC recognized universities across Pakistan. The distribution of remaining 17-18,000 laptops will be completed by 15 January 2017. Moreover, the process of delivery of laptops to universities under Phase-III of the program has been initiated, and HEC has planned to distribute another 100,000 laptops among eligible university students by the end of March 2017. HEC has also initiated procurement process for Phase-IV of the scheme simultaneously. It is worth mentioning that under CSR component of YLS Phase-I, HEC has established e-class rooms and laundry facilities at IBA Sukkur and COMSATS Islamabad. In order to promote IT manufacturing industry, and contribute significantly in country’s GDP, first time in the history of Pakistan, MS Haier Pakistan, the vendor of the scheme, has set up a state-of-the-art Laptop Assembly Plant under the scheme. The initial capacity of staff is about 60at the plant which will be increased gradually. 150,000/200,000 laptops have been assembled locally at the above plant under phase-II of the programme.
Under PM’s Fee Reimbursement Scheme, so far tuition fee of almost 150,000 students of less developed areas across Pakistan has been reimbursed/paid upfront. Due to this valuable intervention, 100% enrollment has increased in some universities of Balochistan.
Under Phase-I of PM’s Youth Training Scheme, around 44,000 fresh graduates, degree/diploma holders, have been granted 12-month paid internship @ Rs. 12000/month based on their matching demand in reputed public and private sector organizations. Placement letters to another 21,000 interns will be issued shortly, as the verification of their degree/diplomas/credentials by HEC/Technical Education Boards/NADRA is currently under process.
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