Islamabad - Around 2,233 internees of the National Internship Programme were offered jobs on the basis of their potential and performance in different public and private organisations, DG NIP Hidayat Ullah Khan said on Sunday while sharing results of a recent countrywide survey.

The DG said that around 10,000 internees, who had completed their trainings, participated in the survey. The survey indicates that those performing well were being offered permanent placement in respective organisations where they were placed to harness their potential and improve skills.

In an interview, the official said, “The NIP stipend has been increased from Rs12,000 a month to Rs15,000 with an objective to encourage fresh graduates’ participation in the programme”. Around 84,000 students are already benefiting from the programme, of which 29,000 have completed their training, he said.

The DG further said that the NIP was getting popularity amongst the youth and received 146,000 applications against the total 15,000 available seats for 2017. He said that applicants’ academic record had been forwarded to Higher Education Commission (HEC) for verifications, adding that the process was expected to be completed soon.

In response to a question, he said that the seats under NIP were being allocated to provinces as per National Finance Commission (NFC) Award formula. Moreover, he said, age limit for applicants from less-privileged areas including Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) had been increased from 25 to 30 to accommodate maximum number of students.

The students of Wafaq-ul-Madaris registered with the federal government and possessing a degree equal to graduation would also be considered for the internship programme, the DG NIP said.

Hidayat said that female applicants were also being encouraged to apply for the programme.

It may be mentioned that under the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme, the federal government is providing the youth with skills, training and access to finance.

The National Internship Programme is designed to provide basis for youth training and development as well as experimental learning that integrates knowledge and theory learned in classroom with skill development in professional setting.