Business
Businesses claim offering school children work experience is ‘too time consuming’
A new survey has revealed that a significant proportion of businesses are deterred from offering work experience placements to school pupils due to time constraints and staffing challenges.
Two in five (41 per cent) of companies that do not provide such opportunities cited the process as too time-consuming.
The research, conducted by The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC), found that a third of senior business leaders not offering placements also reported a lack of staff capacity to supervise young people (33 per cent), while 34 per cent struggled to identify suitable tasks.
Of the 750 business leaders surveyed in total, just over half (52 per cent) currently offer work experience. Furthermore, more than half (58 per cent) indicated that the traditional two-week work experience block itself is too time-consuming.
This comes after the government’s post-16 education and skills white paper promised to deliver at least two weeks of work experience for all secondary school students, with a goal of splitting this into at least one week’s worth of experience in years seven to nine, and the other in years 10 to 11.
Last week the Office for National Statistics said the number of young people not in employment, education or training (Neet) remained close to a million from July to September at 946,000.
“Work experience is absolutely fundamental to ensuring that young people have that line of sight to where they need to get to,” Skills England deputy chief executive officer Gemma Marsh told a CEC event last week.
More than two in three (68 per cent) of businesses surveyed by CEC said entry-level candidates are underprepared for the world of work.
Three quarters (75 per cent) of businesses also said making it easier to work with schools would make them more likely to offer work experience.
CEC is advocating for short, flexible work experience placements to make up the weeks’ worth of experience in both years seven to nine and years 10 to 11.
These should prioritise young people who are missing out and provide targeted support, and start early to allow students to access different industries.
“This is very much a new attempt to break away from two-week block work experiences that for too long been found to be inflexible, impractical, and out of reach for many students and employers,” said Baroness Nicky Morgan, former Conservative education secretary and CEC chairwoman, speaking at CEC’s event on Friday.
CEC is calling on schools and employers to sign up to its new approach to work experience to help give young people more choice.
Ellis Potter, head of apprenticeships and careers at The Priory Federation of Academies Trust, said: “We can only deliver this if more employers get involved.
“When businesses open their doors, our students gain a clearer sense of what work really looks like and leave school even more prepared for their future pathways.”
Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “School leaders recognise that work experience and high-quality careers advice are vital in helping young people plan for their future.
“However, simply expecting schools to deliver work experience, without considering some of the systemic barriers, including the capacity and buy-in of businesses across the country, could leave the promise of universal work experience out of reach.”
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday staged a strong comeback, breaking the long bearish momentum as snowballing forex reserves have lifted investor sentiment.
During intraday trading, the PSX’s benchmark KSE-100 index gained a whopping 3,146.23 points to climb to 184,602.56 points, marking a positive change of 1.70%.
Out of 562 active companies, share prices of 375 advanced and of 67 declined while rates of 120 companies remained unchanged.
Economic analysts said the uptick offered some breathing space for the economy, even as the country continued to keep a close watch on external inflows and outflows.
Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves inched up by $16 million over the past week, according to figures released by the State Bank of Pakistan.
The central bank said its official reserves rose from $16.0557 billion to $16.0718 billion, showing a modest gain during the week.
Overall, the country’s total reserves climbed to $21.2484 billion.
The State Bank also noted that commercial banks’ holdings went up by $5.6 million, reaching $5.1927 billion.
The central bank projects the FY26 current account deficit at 0–1% of GDP and sees reserves at $17.8 billion by June 2026 with planned official inflows.
A day earlier, the stock exchange dropped by over 1,100 points due to massive selling pressure.
The PSX had extended losses after recording an increase for a brief period as investors seemed cautious amid rising geopolitical tensions involving Iran.
During intraday trading, the KSE-100 index touched 183,717.53 due to strong buying in the early sessions before it turned bearish by losing 69.29 points to close at 182,500.52 points.
International officials have warned that US military intervention in Iran now appears likely and could take place within the next 24 hours amid sharply escalating tensions in the Middle East.
American, European and Israeli sources said preparations for possible action were under way as Washington began evacuating personnel from its major air base in Qatar.
NEW DELHI: People with job cards assigned under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Scheme will be able to get work without disruption when transition takes place to new rural employment framework under Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act.Even though exact timeframe is not known yet, rural development ministry officials said the VB-G RAM G scheme will come into force in the coming financial year after the Centre frames and notifies the rules. After govt notifies the Act’s commencement date, states will get six months to make their schemes to enable implementation of the law.To ensure there is no disruption and job guarantee is upheld during transition from MGNREGA, it has been proposed to enable workers to use the same job cards issued under MGNREGA with Aadhaar-based eKYC.The officials said that as of now, around 75% of job cards have been verified with eKYC under the ongoing scheme. Moreover, ongoing projects under MGNREGA, if incomplete when the transition happens to the new scheme, would stay on course.Meanwhile, work is on to frame rules, lay out regulations on normative allocations, fund flow plan, IT framework, a national-level steering panel and social audits.Under the new law, focus will be on transparency to weed out leakages and duplicacy of work,the social audit system will be strengthened, and technology leveraged to create systems to establish work progress, timely wage payment and accountability through ‘e-measurement’ books, sources said. Demand for work will have to be entered on a digital platform. Officials made it clear the new law in no way interferes with demand-driven character of the scheme.
Business
Gurugram Attracts Rs 86,588 Crore In Real Estate Investments In 2025 As RERA Clears 131 Projects
Last Updated:
Alongside rising investments, Gurugram RERA strengthened regulatory oversight to safeguard homebuyer and investor interests
Gurgaon Real Estate (Representative Image)
Gurugram emerged as one of India’s top real estate investment destinations in 2025, with projects worth Rs 86,588 crore receiving regulatory approvals during the year, according to data from the Gurugram Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Gurugram RERA).
Market observers said the numbers reflect strong investor confidence in the NCR’s largest commercial and residential hub.
Gurugram RERA registered 131 projects in calendar year 2025, representing development potential of 35,455 units across housing and commercial segments.
A striking feature of the data was the dominance of large-ticket projects. Just 28 major developments accounted for investments worth Rs 59,360 crore, highlighting the growing influence of institutional capital and large developers in shaping Gurugram’s property market.
Residential assets continued to attract the bulk of investment interest. Of the total units approved, 31,455 were residential, underscoring sustained end-user demand and long-term confidence in the city’s housing fundamentals.
According to Authority data, the residential mix included 17,405 group housing units, 5,720 mixed land use units, 4,040 residential floor units, 2,122 affordable group housing units, 1,954 units under the Deen Dayal housing scheme, and 214 residential plotted colony units.
Market observers said this diversified supply pipeline indicates capital deployment across both premium and mass segments, helping reduce concentration risk and deepen market resilience.
On the commercial side, Gurugram RERA approved about 4,000 commercial units, of which 168 were dedicated to IT parks, reinforcing Gurugram’s position as a preferred hub for technology firms and Global Capability Centres.
Analysts noted that the combination of office-led employment growth and residential expansion continues to make Gurugram attractive for long-term capital deployment.
Industry experts said the scale of investments approved in 2025 highlights Gurugram’s ability to attract capital despite global uncertainty, supported by infrastructure growth, a strong corporate base and an improving regulatory environment.
“With a large pipeline of approved projects and sustained interest from developers and institutional investors, Gurugram is expected to remain a key real estate investment destination in the coming years,” a Gurugram-based real estate expert said.
Tighter regulatory checks
Alongside rising investments, Gurugram RERA strengthened regulatory oversight to enhance transparency and safeguard homebuyer and investor interests.
“These steps included stricter scrutiny of developer submissions, mandatory site inspections by domain experts, and public consultation through mandatory notices before project registration,” an Authority official said.
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January 16, 2026, 07:44 IST
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