PESHAWAR, Feb 26: The National Internship Programme (NIP) will be launched from March 15 for which thousands of unemployed youths are being enrolled for a Rs10,000 a month stipend.

A meeting to discuss the issue was held on Monday at the Civil Secretariat, with provincial Establishment Secretary Mian Sahib Jan in the chair.

The establishment secretary said that all people holding Master’s degrees and those completing the requirements for BE or MBBS were qualified for the programme.

The age limit for the programme, he said, was 25.

The internees, to be placed in the provincial and federal departments, would be enrolled for one year and during their internship they would be entitled to 20 days of casual leave, he said.

Heads of departments were asked to designate ‘mentors’ for the internees, who would guide and train them.

Stressing the need for adopting a kind and caring approach towards the younger generation, the secretary establishment said that all departments should utilise the opportunity very carefully as the internees would be “our own sons, daughters, brothers and sisters”.

He also urged the would-be internees to make judicious use of the opportunity. Heads and representatives of all departments attended the meeting.