From classrooms to careers: PM’s youth education empowerment program transforms youth lives in KP
PESHAWAR (APP): As dawn breaks over the stone-walled home of electric technician, Asad Khan in Nowshera district, he kick-starts his motorbike against the biting November chill, ready to begin another long day at his small but bustling workshop in Pabbi bazaar.
Inside his two-room workshop, cluttered with water geysers, heaters, and tangled wires, Asad Khan who was known locally as Ustad, works with unwavering focus till late night to fulfill orders placed by the customers. While his cup of green tea and plate of Chapli Kebabs grow cold on the side table, he and his two assistants diagnose stubborn faults in an instant water gas heaters after its demands increase manifold due to electricity load shedding.
At 26, Asad’s story is one of commitment, grit, perseverance, and the power of technical and vocational education programs launched under the vision of Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif to arrest unemployment and alleviate poverty. After completing a Diploma of Associate Engineering (DAE) in Electronics from the Government Polytechnic Institute Peshawar, the motivated electrician turned a small guest room (baithak) of his house into a modest repair shop where he employed three interns of electronics graduates.
“Today, I have a proper workshop, employ five people including three interns, and take on wiring projects for housing societies,” he said proudly. “A single 10-marla house project can bring in up to Rs50,000 to Rs80,000. I prefer staying here, serving my people, rather than going abroad.”
Asad has refused multiple overseas job offers abroad, choosing instead to build his future at home country—a decision he attributes to the skills and confidence gained from his technical education.
Experts strongly believed that stories like Asad’s reflect a larger shift in Pakistan’s economy, where demand for technically skilled workers has grown rapidly due to projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), expansion of housing societies, and a rising local need for energy and construction services.
Dr. Zilakat Malik, former Chairman of the Economics Department at the University of Peshawar, said that the prime minister youth empowerment program was a landmark initiative to provide jobs to youth as per their education and help them to live with dignity.
He said that unemployment in Pakistan stood at 6.42% in 2022, and that poor investment and outdated vocational curricula in KP have limited job opportunities for youth. “Nearly 64% of Pakistan’s population is youth,” he said. “With the right investment in vocational training, this demographic can become a national asset, especially under CPEC and the establishment of special economic zones like Rashakai in Nowshera.”
Recognizing this potential, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has introduced several initiatives to promote technical and vocational education, including provision of over 2,000 internships for young engineers, youth transformation programs in 20 underdeveloped districts including KP, 75 National Top Talent Scholarships Programme and gigantic free laptop scheme to enhance digital literacy and open gates of employment for youth of Pakistan.
“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and CM Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif, over 80,000 students are being supported through the Honhaar Scholarship Program,” said Hamza Khan, PML-N Nowshera President. He said over 600 students have even been sent to China for technical and agriculture education to benefit from CPEC-linked industries and promote modern agricultural farming to increase per acre yield.
He said the Federal government is also eyeing the rapidly growing E-sports sector, planning Pakistan’s first national policy and federation for gaming and digital innovation—an industry already engaging an estimated 60 million Pakistanis.
In the same Pabbi town where Asad runs his workshop, Musawar Ahmed, a young IT entrepreneur, shares a similar story of positive transformation. “The Prime Minister’s Youth Programme gave me the required funding and training to start my IT business. It changed my life and allowed me to give back to my community,” he said.
Former Managing Director of TEVTA KP, Engr. Sajjad Khan, said massive investment is underway to strengthen technical institutions especially in newly merged districts and remote regions.
He highlighted agreements with 32 private organizations and the launch of Rs1 billion projects to equip training centers with modern tools, transport, and solar energy. KP has also announced a sub-campus of the National College of Arts (NCA) in Peshawar, saving students from traveling to Lahore for degrees in architecture, fine arts, and textile design.
Back in his workshop, Asad adjusts a wire and nods approvingly as the geyser flickers back to life. His assistants look on with admiration as each one a product of technical training, now earning a steady income and contributing to the country’s development. Like Asad, hundreds of thousands of youth of KP are benefiting from PM’s youth program in KP.
“I started with nothing but a toolkit and a dream,” Asad smiles. “If our youth get the right education and support, they can light up not just homes but their futures too and make the country economically strong.”
