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Govt to offer vocational training to jobless youths
The Industry Ministry is considering creating self-employment opportunities for around 50,000 jobless youths by providing vocational training.The Industry Ministry is considering creating self-employment opportunities for around 50,000 jobless youths by providing vocational training.
In the first phase, such job opportunities will be created for 11,450 youths, Industry Minister Nabindra Raj Joshi told an interaction here on Monday.
The government is planning to provide vocational training to the youths in areas like metal fabricating, furniture manufacturing, carpet weaving, fruit processing, noodle manufacturing, milk processing, baking and off-season vegetable farming, among others.
“We have identified that these areas can accommodate a large number of jobless youths,” said Joshi, adding, “Our study shows the metal fabricating sector alone can provide self-employment opportunities to around 20,000 jobless youths.”
To ensure the youths—who receive vocational training—do not look for other employment opportunities mid-way, the ministry is also planning to ensure market for products they generate.
“We are also considering providing product certification to their products so that they could secure better market and better price,” said Joshi. “We will create institutions that will provide product certification and help them in branding their products in national and international markets.”
Apart from providing vocational training, the ministry is also making arrangements to provide easy access to finance to youths seeking self-employment opportunities. “I have already had a couple of rounds of talks with the Nepal Rastra Bank governor so as to provide easier and cheaper access to finance,” said Joshi. “He is positive about it and has said the central bank will make some arrangement.”
Such small- and medium-size enterprises established by youths, according to Minister Joshi, will further help in creating additional job opportunities for other jobless youths, creating a ripple effect in the job market.
Although the minister’s plan sounds appealing, it is not likely to produce desired results as vocational training alone is not enough to create self-employment opportunities, according to experts.
“In order to make the self-employment scheme successful, jobless youths should be kept in incubators and taught how to run an
enterprise,” said economist Posh Raj Pandey. “So, a
holistic approach must be adopted.”
Also, the initiative taken by the minister might not make a big difference because 512,000 people join the job market annually. This implies the minister’s plan to create self-employment opportunities for around 50,000 youths will cater to less than 10 percent of youths entering the job market.
“To create a significant impact, the government should consider accommodating at least 150,000 people in the job market,” said Pandey.