Questions raised as govt goes ahead with Rs4.9bn youth skills project

ISLAMABAD: With the elections schedule having been announced, the caretaker government is set to implement a Rs4.9 billion project under the Prime Minister Youth Skill Development Programme, it emerged on Sunday.

The National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) is all set to award a multi-billion rupees contract to Dr Nadeem Kiyani, owner of a skill development college and a chain of schools. The decision was allegedly influenced by Secretary Federal Education and Professional Training Waseem Ajmal and Executive Director NAVTTC Aamir Jan. Both officials, however, reject these allegations as baseless.

For the Prime Minister Youth Skills Development Program Rs4.9 billion were approved by the Shahbaz Sharif-led government for fiscal year 2023-24. Under this program, 56,000 youth were to be trained through different skills development courses. NAVTTC is implementing this project with the help of the provincial government.

The provincial distribution of seats is governed under an approved formula of population of NFC, low HDI of districts, poverty, disparity from other regions, higher share for federal areas. Dr. Nadeem Kiyani, using the influence of Secretary Federal Education and ED NAVTTC allegedly demanded 15,000 seats in Balochistan and 10,000 seats in Punjab and ICT region who will be trained in his colleges and institutes. However, in Balochistan keeping the formula of allocation in view only 10,000 seats have been approved. Of these 10,000 seats in Balochistan, how many have been awarded to CISD affiliated colleges and institutes is a question no government official is ready to answer.

Despite these looming questions of the program’s transparency, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar will inaugurate the first phase of the PM Youth Skills Development Program in Quetta on December 19. The urgency of the matter can be gauged through this fact that previously, for every skill development course the aspirant students are given a 15 days deadline to apply for it. But this time the 15 days deadline has been ignored by the NAVTTC.

When contacted Secretary Federal Education Waseem Ajmal Chaudhry said, “The principle of seat allocation is capacity (of the institute) and students enrolled. There is a tough criterion to ensure quality. I don’t know any particular group but this city’s low quality training providers will not get much allocation. No allocation has yet been made and there will be an objective formula to do that which is Algorithm based.. No subjective discretion.”

To a question about allocation of 15,000 seats to Balochistan, Mr. Waseem Ajmal said, “I don’t think it is 15,000. It will be about 10,000. We are hearing news that about 23,000 students have already enrolled there.”

When asked the reasons for nominating Mr. Nadeem Kiyani for the SIFC committee meant for skill development, the secretary said, “4-5 big private sector TVET service providers are part of the committee. Any improvement in Service delivery can only be planned in the private sector. Even if I want to or anybody else wants to, it is not possible because from the last year, on my instructions, it has been converted into formula-based allocation to avoid rent seeking, influence and non-transparent decision making.”

Talking about the allegations of using his influence for Dr Nadeem Kiyani, the Secretary Education said, “I deny all allegations regarding any particular group/ person. There are directions to award contract purely on merit and without any subjective discretion. I hope this is sufficient.

“I have taken leave after a long time and I am replying to your text on the plane. All award of contracts had to be in my absence,” he said.

When contacted Executive Director NAVTTC, Aamir Jan said there are 100 institutes registered with NAVTTC. The institutes will be awarded seats purely on merit. The allocation hasn’t been finalized yet.

“We have prequalified the institutes yet. The decision about the allocation will be taken on the basis of the highest number of students applying, and the reputation of the institutes,” commented Aamir Jan.

When asked about the criteria of selection and total number of Dr Nadeem Kiyani’s institutes who have been awarded the contract, ED NAVTTC said he is in Quetta for a meeting and can’t respond. “Come over to his office and he will explain the criteria.”

Talking to The News Dr. Nadeem Kiyani said, “Within a week you will see the result about total seats allocated to my institutes. These are all rumours spread by those who were running ghost institutes and students in the past.”

“I have been working with NAVTTC since 2016. In the past, 4000 seats were allocated to Balochistan and only 2,500 were filled whereas the remaining seats were returned to NAVTTC. This time I have spent time with the schools and colleges of Balochistan and convinced them to acquire technical skills. This time 10,000 seats have been allocated to Balochistan. There are several other institutes apart from my institutes, which would receive the seats from the quota. I have installed 600 modern computers in various institutes in Balochistan.”

When asked about the total number of seats allocated to his institutes, he said the portal is not open yet. “We will be able to confirm the total number of seats only when the application portal is open because all this depends on how many students have applied to my institutes. CISDs are not the only institutes I own. I am earning good money from my schools.”

I am not the only one who is competing for this project in Balochistan. There are ten other NGOs as well as Balochistan University and some other institutes.”

“Apart from the government quota allocated to my institutes, I am planning provision of free of cost skill development education to all those who couldn’t meet the criteria but have applied for the courses in my institutes,” commented Dr Kiyani.