ISLAMABAD (News Desk) – The internees selected under the Prime Minister Youth Scheme have said that the opportunity was a waste of time that ended up teaching them nothing.
The program was aimed to provide practical skills and experience to the educated yet unemployed youth.
However, internees’ account have suggested that the program has failed to place them in relevant departments or even release their monthly stipend on time.
An internee told The Nation on the condition of anonymity, “This is our 3rd month working in the National internship programme and I haven’t received any stipend.”
“I am spending money from my pocket for the past about three months and I am getting no payment, I cannot continue it for a long time,” he lamented.
According to the Nation’s report, DG National Internship Program was not available to respond to the allegations. However, the program’s helpline claimed that all the internees were receiving monthly stipend, except a few who were facing some problems.
“Such internees should contact the focal person of their concerned department or the bank where challan has been deposited to get their stipend,” the operator added.
The federal government launched the national internship program in February this year.
Under the program, 50,000 internees were placed in different institutions/departments for the period of one year.
The 3-year budget for the program is around Rs. 7851 million, from which the internees were to be given a monthly stipend of Rs. 12000 for one year.
