ISLAMABAD, June 28: Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Tuesday said the government would introduce national technical training centres and vocational education in all the four provinces and the federal capital.

An amount of Rs2.5 billion has been allocated in the budget for the purpose and about 0.3 million students would be benefited annually from the training centres. Both short and long terms course would be taught in the centres and the qualified students would be given Rs500 per month as unemployment allowance till their jobs were confirmed.

The minister was speaking as chief guest at the closing ceremony of a six-day master training course on “promotion of awareness of human rights among workers and employers”, organized by the labour ministry.

“Labourers must be united on a single platform and they should fight for their rights,” he said.

“Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had great respect for the labour class that is why he was elected president of Mazdoor Union in 1922. He was of the opinion that capitalism was the most dangerous enemy of labourers,” Mr Khan said.

Responding to a question about the PTCL’s privatization, he said Wapda, PPL, PIA, PSO and Pakistan Steel Mill would also be privatized soon, saying it had now become a worldwide trend. “Privatization does not benefit the labour class at a large scale, however, they (workers) have the right to express their reservations in this regard through dialogue rather than aggression.”

APP adds: Minister for Education Lt-Gen (retired) Javed Ashraf Qazi has said National Technical and Vocational Training Authority (NTEVTA) would start functioning after the formal approval of the cabinet.

He said this at the inaugural ceremony of Sir Syed Gachrang School of Arts and Technical Education and certificate awarding ceremony to master trainers of Vocational and Technical Centre here on Tuesday.

The minister said the main objective of establishing this authority is to create maximum employment opportunities for skilled and technical manpower.

Javed Ashraf said the vocational and training institutes would offer three diplomas courses, as six months to one-year diploma after middle class education, three-year diploma after matriculation and one-year diploma equal to graduation after three-year basic technical training.