KHYBER: The chairperson of Benazir Income Support Programme, Rubina Khalid, has said that government is planning to start ‘Benazir Hunar Programme’ to impart skill development training to unemployed youth.

She visited Landi Kotal tehsil the other day and met a number of tribal women, registered with BISP. She interacted with them about their issues.

Ms Kahlid said on the occasion that the number of BISP beneficiaries was expected to reach 10 million by the end of the year as government wanted to register new eligible people to extend them monetary assistance.

She said that her focus would be particularly on the youth of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as they had great potential but were ignored by provincial government to properly utilise their talent.

“We intend to switch over to imparting skill development training to the registered recipients alongside providing them monetary assistance with focus on youth in particular and also the children of the elderly beneficiaries of BISP,” she said. She added that federal government was in consultation with a German firm to engage it for the new initiative.

Ms Khalid said that there was huge demand for skilled labour in international market and skill development of the country’s youth would benefit them to venture into foreign markets and explode new employment opportunities.

She regretted that youth in KP were disappointed with the present provincial government as most of them were unemployed. “The new initiative will create a new path for our youth and they will be provided with opportunities to productively utilise their talent and energies and enable them to stand on their own feet,” she added. She expressed her optimism that BISP would not only enable skilled youth to financially help their impoverished families but would also contribute to national economy.

She said that population of the country was rapidly increasing whereas government had limited resources. She said that the new initiative of imparting skill training to people would make them useful citizens of the country.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2025