ISLAMABAD: National Vocational & Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) Executive Director Dr Nasir Khan technology and innovation were fundamental to economic success in the modern competitive world.

“Therefore, it is imperative that we equip our youth with technical skills along with conventional education to prepare them for the job market,” he maintained.

He was chairing a meeting of heads of education departments from Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and officials of Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) at the NAVTTC headquarters on Monday.

Matric-Tech is a flagship project of NAVTTC that is being launched as third stream of education alongside matriculation in general science and arts, and it aims to integrate technical and vocational education and training with formal education.

According to NAVTTC, Matric-Tech will initially be piloted in 15 schools of Islamabad, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan.

The scheme will provide opportunities to the youth to choose their career path by giving them options to select between higher education and skill education according to their aptitude.

The details of the project have been discussed with the Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC) which has declared level 4 qualifications equivalent to Matric that would be implemented through Boards of Technical Education across the country.

The government has approved PC-1 of the project and it will formally be launched in schools in April this year.

Working paper and scheme of studies for implementation of this project were discussed in detail during the meeting. The participants termed this initiative of NAVTTC a huge step towards empowerment of youth and assured cooperation in its implementation in their respective regions.

NAVTTC is also working to make the curricula available on Mobile Apps, training videos, 3-D stimulators, virtual & augmented reality and PDF books in Urdu & English.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2020