he unemployment challenge is becoming insurmountable as an uncountable number of youth are finding it difficult to have decent work opportunities. Even those having postgraduate degrees are compelled to apply for the posts of peons and other menial jobs. It is in this backdrop the Punjab government has started focusing on imparting `employable skills` to the ever-increasing bulge of unemployed educated youth.

In order to create awareness among the youth about the opportunities of learning employable skills to get decent jobs, the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta) this past weekend organised a two-day `Huner Mela`. At this festival, which was supported by the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Reform Support Programme and co-funded by the European Union, the Embassy of the Kingdom of theNetherlands and the Federal Republic of Germany and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the Tevta institutes, industry partners and prominent training institutes from the public sector had set up their stalls and products of the trainees.

Some stalls also explained the success stories from a number of Tevta institutes.

A number of industrial units involved in the TVET delivery and training providers from other parts of the country such as Aman Institute for Vocational Training, Hunar Foundation had also set up their stalls and gave information about training programmes to the youth.

During the two days, around 10,000 school students along with their teachers and parents visited the fair and got first-hand information about the programmes. Around 300 employers were there to witness the TVET facilities available in Punjab.

Punjab Industries Department Secretary Ali Sarfraz Hussain, whoholds additional charge of Tevta chairman, said the challenge of unemployment and utilising the youth bulge in Pakistan in general and Punjab in particular could be met through equipping the youth with employable skills.

Stating that the TVET, being a stream of education and skill learning, had better prospects of employability, he urged the young students to adopt TVET as a career path that would help transform their future. He said the availability of skilled manpower was not only a key to success for industrial development of Pakistan but also for individual socioeconomic prosperity and poverty alleviation in society.

He said the local industry`s effective liaison was helping Tevta train the youth in demand-driven and employable trades.

GIZ Pakistan Education Programme Director Julie Reviere said Pakistan had plenty of natural and human resources for economic development. With a clear vision as well as sustained and organised efforts to implement it, she said, theTVET sector could revolutionise socioeconomic landscape in Pakistan.

T he Government College University, Lahore, Rovers Club this past Thursday revived scouting in the city by organising a fourday All-Pakistan Scouts and Volunteers Gala 2014 in collaboration with the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, Punjab, and the Civil Defence Lahore.

The GCU Rovers Club established `Camp City` at the university`s Cricket Ground, where more than 500 scouts from all over Pakistan attended the national festival based on a theme `Let`s change our destiny through social services.

`This is the biggest scout event in Lahore after the National Scout Jamboree which was held in 1985 in the Nishtar Park (now a colony), Lahore,` said GCU Rovers Club Adviser Dr Moshin Javed while speaking to the participants in the Scouts and Volunteers Gala.

GCU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Khaleequr Rehman inaugurated theScouts` Camp City, where 44 scout teams had set up their camps to participate in trainings for four days.

DIG Jawad Ahmad Dogar (who was the president of the GCU Rovers Club in 1991) said scouting was a complete practical education in itself that help enhance physical, intellectual, social, and spiritual potentials of individuals and transform them into responsible citizens. He said scouting should be made compulsory for all the students.

GCU Rovers Club President Hafiz Ateequr Rehman said the scouts would be imparted civil defence, rescue, first aid and national disaster management training during the event.

He said a group of the physically-challenged students of Al-Ajam Welfare also was participating in the event besides the scouts from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, the UET Lahore, the Punjab University, the BZU Multan, the UVAS Lahore, Kurram Agency and Fata.

VC Prof Rehman regretted that in this age of computers and mobile phones, students had lost their interest in socialservices and welfare activities. However, he said, the GCU would continue to play its role in the character building of students. He said he himself was a scout in his school days and had great interest that his students should also participate in social service activities.

He stressed that the Red Crescent Society should make itself more vibrant and involve the varsity students in its humanitarian activities. In order to encourage students, the vice chancellor himself got life-time membership of the RCS.

T he Dramatics Club of Government College University, Lahore, (GCUDC) last week staged a special editionofShakespeare`s`Macbeth`at the cultural evening hosted by the university in the honour of foreign educationists of top universities. The delegation had come to Pakistan to attend the International Conference on `South Asia Policy Dialogue on Higher Education and Knowledge Parks`. mansoormalikl73@hotmail.com