Pakistan: Improving Workforce Readiness in Punjab

Education / Technical and vocational education and training

The Government of Pakistan (the Government) has set itself an ambitious target of creating 10 million jobs over five years, with a special focus on skill-building through technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in its first term. Achieving this target will require much better performance from the TVET sector. The scale of improvement required can be seen from the Global Competitiveness Report 2018, which showed that Pakistan ranked 125th overall for skills with individual rankings of 90th for the quality of vocational training, 51st for the skillset of graduates, and 63rd for ease of finding skilled employees.

Since the passage of the 18th Constitutional Amendment in 2010, provincial governments in Pakistan are responsible for delivering, funding and regulating TVET. In Punjab, the Industries, Commerce and Investment Department (ICID) has overall responsibility for the TVET sector, although many departments and agencies are involved in the sector. There are two principal public TVET providers in Punjab: the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA) has some 400 institutes, while the Punjab Vocational Training Council (PVTC) has some 270 institutes. TEVTA and PVTC are government funded. TEVTA is financed through ICID, while PVTC is funded through the Zakat and Ushr Department and the Planning and Development Department. Other TVET institutes include public providers operated by other governments departments and agencies, and a large private sector. TEVTA and PVTC also operate TVET teacher training centers. The structure of the TVET sector in Punjab is set out in Appendix 4.

The size of the TVET sector in Punjab dwarfs that in other provinces. In 2017, there were some 1,600 TVET institutes and 238,000 TVET enrolments in Punjab, representing 46.0% of all TVET institutes and 56.8% of all TVET enrolments in Pakistan. By comparison, Sindh had only 17.0% of TVET institutes and 18.1% of TVET enrolments in Pakistan in 2017. The labor market in Punjab is characterized by low levels of skills, low female participation and a large informal sector. Women's labor force participation is around one-third that of men. There is substantial occupational segregation, with females more likely to work in traditional jobs such as dressmakers and beauticians. Over 60% of the Pakistan population is under 25 and youth have low levels of education and little exposure to TVET. The unemployment rate for youth is high. The TVET sector's challenges limit its ability to support competitiveness and inclusive economic growth through the supply of skilled workers.