China to help Pakistan build vocational training schools
China will help Pakistan build six vocational training institutes across Pakistan to meet need for skilled labor, Gwadar Pro News reported on Sunday.
Shafqat Mahmood, Pakistani federal minister for education, told Gwadar Pro that “vocational training institutes are being set up with the help of China under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to meet the industrial demands. This will further strengthen the partnership between the two friendly countries.”
Bao Zhong, head of political and press section of China’s embassy in Pakistan, said that China is helping Pakistan to modernize existing vocational training institutes as well as giving funds to set up at least six new ones.
Pakistan has the ninth largest labor force in the world with an estimate of 61 million workers, out of whom 5.9 percent are unemployed.
Pakistan now has a capacity to train 445,000 skilled laborers annually. Authorities expect that with the six new institutes, the country will be able to train skilled labor for both local and international markets.
By September 2020, about 70,000 Pakistanis have been directly employed under CPEC. A recent study conducted by CPEC Centre of Excellence showed that CPEC could help create 1.2 million jobs by 2030 indirectly,.
In July 2020, China provided training equipment worth US$4 million for the vocational training schools around Pakistan through National Vocational and Technical Training Commission.
