ISLAMABAD, Dec 15: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help Pakistan to improve technical and vocational training in Balochistan and the NWFP.

The ADB would also help boost job prospects in the two provinces, through assistance packages of US$16 million and $11 million, respectively, for two separate projects to improve technical education and vocational training (TEVT) systems.

A press release issued here on Wednesday said that each of the projects would restructure and strengthen the TEVT institutions in the provinces, improve the quality and relevance of their programme and increase access to TEVT programmes.

The projects would cover post secondary technical education at the polytechnic level, middle-level technical and vocational training for students with grade-8 and training for out-of-school boys and girls.

Both the projects would expand opportunities for women to receive skill training at all levels of the technical education and vocational training system. In Balochistan, two new polytechnic institutes - one for boys and one for girls- and three technical training centres for girls would be established, and in the NWFP two vocational training centres for girls would be established in Chitral and Karak.

With low participation in general education and low completion rate at primary and secondary levels, the average literacy rate in the age group of ten years and above was only 36 per cent for Balochistan and 38 per cent for the NWFP. As a result, unemployment was higher than other provinces.

"As the government works on improving general education, the technical education and vocational training can help fill in the gaps in the context of overall educational needs," says Brajesh Panth, an ADB senior social sector specialist.