Vocational Training Is A Need Of The Time To Provide Employment To Our Youth
One of the most significant labor market problems facing Pakistan today is the number of unemployed young workers who are having difficulty in acquiring middle-class jobs. such jobs are slowly slipping away to people with higher education. Since they lack the ability to adjust to the rapidly moving labor market.
We should not delude ourselves into thinking that by providing free education, we can substitute for the slowly failing educational standards and bring the socially immobilized segment into the economy. The current Pakistani institutions to date, are still struggling to deal with the problem which by and large is failing to provide basic skills to the next generation.
In such a situation, apprenticeships can become a substitute for the failing schooling system and standards. Germany is one of the best success stories in the world, for having this dual education system. The people who are not suited for or are unable to gain university education, can instead acquire vocational skills. For its success ratio, around two thirds of all students leaving school go on to join a vocational training program in the country.
Germany’s economy is admired greatly. Unemployment rate has fallen to below 4% and has remained stable. Even in a world moving towards automation, their share of manufacturing jobs has not fallen. Germany’s economy has an over-sized trade surplus, lots of foreign assets, an enviable share of global trade, solid public finances and more importantly full and stable employment.
Germany’s edge is that its exports are super-competitive. The country has a talent for precision engineering which means that for decades it has had an edge in luxury cars, chemicals and machinery. Sustained success in such high-end manufacturing means that it has required a commitment to vocational training and to research and development.
Keeping such developments in mind, TAF Foundation is one such organization, which is working towards building vocational education on a strong, internationally competitive skillsets. As part of this system, students attend classes at the vocational training institute and are then placed at salaries at a higher market rate. 
The training for Houskeeping and Cooking is for 4 months. The training comprises of both theoretical and practical education. The students spend 5 days a week, where they are trained practically in Housekeeping and Cooking. While they are given lessons of theory for Financila Empowerment, Legal Empowerment and Soft Skills. As per market research, these have been deemed crucial in placements of these students.
TAFF has started by offering the following training:
- Housekeeping
- Cooking
- Financial Empowerment
- Legal Empowerment
- Soft Skills
- Elderly Care
After training they are placed in households and companies such as Espresso and KFC. 
Here they are required to showcase the skills acquired.
This combination of theory and practical training, gives people a head start into building secure careers. Employment prospects for students who have completed such vocational training programs are extremely high. This is one of the reasons why vocational training is very popular and increasing in popularity around the world.
About TAF Foundation:
TAF Foundation (TAFF) began in the year 2010 and served as a charitable organization to the underprivileged. In 2015, the Foundation was restructured into a philanthropic organization focused on long-term development initiatives.
Renamed the TAF Foundation, TAFF aligned its mandates to Education, Health, and Social Consciousness and concentrates on sustainable programs which help to create upward social and economic mobility. Underpinning TAFF Foundation objectives is the aim to foster harmony and positive interdependence amongst societal agents.
TAF Foundation intends to add `value’ to the lives of young men and women by engaging them in discourse that make them emotionally intelligent individuals, articulating apprehension(s), setting a personal course of action by putting theory into practice; thus, raising their self-belief and clarity on future course of personal action and providing them with skills that these individuals can use at every stage of their lives.
TAF Foundation will focus on three areas of organizational competence:
HEALTH
Better well-being with a focus on mental health and preventative healthcare.
SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS
We address cultural predispositions through reasoning mechanisms while rationalizing tolerance and social harmony.
EDUCATION
Our focus on education through vocational skills training enables our beneficiaries to polish their skills and get employment.
Accelerate - by Umair Mohsin 