Govt-ILO to launch series of skill-developing projects Creating jobs at home and abroad aimed at

---

Munima SultanaThe government has planned to launch a series of pilot projects from November to develop skills of people for creating better job opportunities for them in various sectors at home and abroad. Officials said the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has been supporting the government through its three agencies to start the pilot projects. They said the student-based skill development projects will be carried on in five different sectors, like transport, agro-based industry, tourism and hospitality, and information technology (IT), to augment their capacity and meet the latest trends. The first pilot project will start on mid-November and the last will end by January, said an official. The officials said the student-based pilot projects are the follow up of the ILO and the European Union (EU)-funded projects, launched in 2010 to increase the capacity of institutions and trainers in these sectors. They said under the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) reform projects, some 100 trainers have already been trained in a number of technical and vocational centres, including the Bureau of Manpower and Education Training (BMET), to improve the training capacity of these organisations for facilitating students. "We have so far tried to improve institutional capacity and skills of the institutions and trainers in various sectors. Now we are ready to launch the pilot projects for the students, so that they get standard training to get better job opportunities," said an ILO official. The official said after completion of all the student-based pilot projects, which will continue for six to eight months, the ILO will make an evaluation to formulate the next course of action. The ILO is implementing the TVET reform project at the cost of US$ 20 million to reduce poverty through reforming the TVET system since 2007. It has so far helped the government to set up National Skill Development Council Secretariat, chaired by the Prime Minister, formulate skill development policy and finalise the framework of national technological vocational training. Since 2010, the ILO has been preparing the framework of the training programmes on the basis of demand and requirement of the people and the market.