Pakistan TVET REFORM Support Programme Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Reform support Programme
Sometimes in life, while chasing your dream, you stumble upon a new path that shows you the way to a new world full of opportunities. Something along the same lines happened to Shamar Zahra who had started off on a journey of her choosing but her fate wanted to bring fortunes for her on a rather unbeaten path.
According to Shamar Zahra, the best day in her life was when she won gold medal in matric exams. She was oozing with confidence and wanted to build on that success to eventually chase her dream profession. But her luck had other plans for her. Zahra wanted to pursue a career in Pharmacy but couldn’t continue doing that. She then started teaching but soon realized that teaching profession is not meant for her either. That’s when she found out about competency-based skills training courses offered with the support of TVET Sector Support Programme at Memon Industrial and Technical Institute.
She selected Print and Graphic Designing course at MITI. Shamar says, “My interest kept growing as I spent more and more time at the institute doing what I had started to love”. Learning about a new tool and technique everyday brought her a sense of satisfaction. Having completed the institute-based-training in 3-months, Shamar Zahra was then placed for on-the-job training with AG-GIGI (Pvt) Ltd. She kept polishing her skills there and kept getting better at her craft.
After having completed her training with flying colours, Shamar was offered a job in a software house. Her office is near her residence and she often get to work on her own. Being the eldest of the siblings, Shamar believes that she really enjoys the financial freedom this job has brought her. She’s now started her BBA degree from the Virtual University and plans to own her own marketing agency someday.
Due to the TVET Sector Support Programme’s delivery model and on-the-job-training for competency-based skills, many youngsters like Shamar Zahra are achieving their goals for a brighter future. Initiatives like TVET have greatly helped create employment opportunities and have played a very positive role in the economic development of the country.
Shamar is the beneficiary of TVET Sector Support Programme, which is working with NAVTTC, provincial TEVTAs and PVTC since 2011 for bringing reforms in TVET Sector. The second phase of programme has funding of 62.5 mn euro for implementation of reforms in the TVET sector of Pakistan on national, provincial and regional level. The Programme is funded by the European Union, Federal Republic of Germany and the Royal Norwegian Embassy. In second phase of its implementation, programme has supported competency-based-training of more than 41,000 men and women on the indigenous and industry-demand-driven trades. The Programme has been commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and is being implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
