LAHORE   -   The Carpet Training Institute (CTI) Chairperson Ejazur Rahman sounds the alarm on the need for a major overhaul of existing institutions and the establishment of new ones to provide specialised training in export-related fields, citing the current setup as inadequate to meet the demands of the industry.

He has urged the government to bring in international experts with the assistance of foreign partners to revamp the training infrastructure, a move that is expected to have far-reaching consequences in enhancing the country’s export competitiveness and bridging the skills gap in the industry. He expressed these views while talking to a delegation of technical and vocational training experts in a meeting, in which a detailed discussion was held regarding the shortage of skilled workers for the hand-woven carpet industry and other issues.

Chairperson CTI Ijazur Rehman said that factors like lack of linkages between export industries and technical institutions are hindering the growth of exports and keeping in view the demand of the industries and the changes in the world, there is a need to establish more vocational training institutes. “Alongwith this, including changes in the curriculum of the already established institutions, they have to be upgraded to make them equal to other countries of the world that provide modern training,” he added.

He emphasised that for this purpose local institutions need to seek help from international partners and to bring modern changes in our institutions we should hire world experts which will have far reaching results, adding, he said the role of other organisations including TEVTA will be very important in this matter. He expressed the desire that the International Labour Organisation should join hands with the carpet manufacturers of Pakistan and alongwith this, other export and trade associations should also promote their cooperation with vocational training providers.