PR No. 190 Islamabad: June 27, 2016

To promote the linkages and partnership in technical & vocational sector between Pakistan and Korea, the Minister Counselor, Kim Jim Wook, Embassy Republic of Korea, called on the Executive Director NAVTTC, Zulfiqar Ahmad Cheema, at NAVTTC HQs today. Zulfiqar Cheema briefed the Minister on the milestone achieved by NAVTTC in brining a paradigm shift in TVET delivery in Pakistan. He explained the role of NAVTTC as an apex body at the national level mandated to regulate and framing the policies and providing directions to all stakeholders of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector in the country. He stressed that Pakistan and Korea share friendly ties and it would benefit NAVTTC to learn from the experience and quality of vocational training standards of Korea.

Zulfiqar Cheema said that we are facing certain challenges to attract young people towards technical and vocational education as the general perception of people is still focused on acquiring conventional education. To counter this dilemma and to change the mind set of young people, NAVTTC arranged skill competitions throughout the country which not only added to their honor and prestige but also many graduates were offered jobs on the spot. Cheema further added that NAVTTC is engaged in utilizing the untapped potential of youth in the right direction so that they become productive citizens and contribute towards socio-economic development of the country. He emphasized that technical and vocational education is the gateway to country’s peace and progress. He said, our top priority is to build state of the art institutes of international standard and to have top quality instructors for technical training.

The Korean Minister Counselor commended the role of NAVTTC and assured to provide technical assistance to boost the TVET sector of Pakistan. He also offered to upgrade National Training Bureau into a state of the art vocational university. It was also mutually agreed that with the assistance of KOICA (Korean International Cooperation Agency), steps would be taken to upgrade the labs and equipment in the technical and vocational institutes of the country.

Mr. Asmat Nawaz, Joint Secretary Economic Affairs Division was also present in the meeting.

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