Lalitpur, February 17 Education Minister Giriraj Mani Pokharel today stressed the need for developing lifelong learning skills. Speaking at the inauguration of the workshop on Support to Knowledge and Lifelong Learning Skills, a three-year (2015-2017) programme of the Ministry of Education and United Nations Development Programme, he said, “Traditional skills of people from various communities are at the risk of dying out. Our traditional skills should be connected to modern technology to keep them alive.” He also stressed on promoting technical and vocational education training sector in the country. Andreas Roettger, head of Cooperation Delegation of the European Union to Nepal, said lack of skilled labour is a key constraint for economic growth in Nepal, though it has a lot of potential for progress and development. “TVET sector plays an important role in transforming human beings into economic assets,” he said, adding, “The SKILLS programme will help Nepal to reach its true potential.” He further said that insufficient and inequitable access to TVET, poor quality and low relevance in the labour market, weak situation of cooperation, huge gaps in investment are a few reasons for the development partners to engage in TVET sector. Sophie Kemkhadze, deputy country director, UNDP recounted that TVET sector cannot be underestimated, as it plays major role in economic development, poverty reduction, inclusion and many other development approaches. “SKILLS is an opportunity to link with TVET sector more closely,” she said. Lava Deo Awasthi, joint-secretary, MoE said the SKILLS programme was launched officially from last year to move forward with a consolidated and integrated approach in technical and vocational education and training. He mentioned that more than Rs 15 billion is allocated for technical education in various titles from various ministries, as it was launched targeting the demand of the labour market. Bhawani Shankar Subedi, national programme manager, said improved policy coherence for TVET provisions and coordinated planning and strengthened monitoring and evaluation of its actions are the major outputs of the programme.