Islamabad:
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued directives for formulating an immediate strategy for making information technology a compulsory subject from the 6th year across the country.
The Prime Minister chaired a high -level exam meeting on issues concerning the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications Technologies, stressing that promoting the IT sector and the growth of IT exports were among the government’s priorities, said a press release from the Prime Minister.
“The inclusion of school programs is essential to prepare for our future generations for requests from the digital economy,” said Prime Minister Shehbaz, calling for unified efforts to provincial governments to ensure the quality and normalization of education and IT training at school, college and university levels.
The Prime Minister also instructed the ministry to initiate computer training programs in underdeveloped regions, in particular Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Cashmere and Balutchistan.
The Ministry officials informed the Prime Minister in detail of current initiatives and future projects. As part of the “Large School Connectivity Project”, the Internet infrastructure in Islamabad schools is upgraded.
The meeting was informed that during the financial year 2024-2025, the ministry has already provided high-end computer training at 49,800 people and general training at more than 600,000 people.
In collaboration with Huawei, skills and professionals training centers are created at the ISLAMABAD International Islamic University, at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) and the Campus of Comsats Lahore University.
In addition, Huawei’s advanced training programs on artificial intelligence, Cloud Computing, Big Data and Cybersecurity have been integrated into the programs of the Ghulam Ishaq Khan of Engineering Sciences and Technology (TOPI), the University of Engineering and Technology (Taxila) and the Mehran engineering and technology university (Jamshoro).
The Ministry of Federal Education and Vocational Training, in partnership with Huawei, will also offer training at 146,367 students and will improve 1,300 laboratories across the country. This initiative should benefit students, in particular Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
The meeting was followed by the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, Federal Minister of Computer Science and Telecommunications Shaza Fatima Khawaja, President of the youth program PM Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan, government officials, and CEO of Huawei, Ethan Sun.
Standard international skills
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the government favored efforts to equip the country’s workforce and training for international standards. He spoke to a delegation of seven members of the association of Charteréd Certified Accounts (ACCA) led by his CEO Helen Brand Obe, who called him to the PM house.
During the meeting, the delegation highlighted an important role, ACCA played for the development of the economy of Pakistan.
The delegation informed the Prime Minister that the 13,000 Pakistani members of the ACCA served around the world in various sectors, while around 40,000 students were being received from ACCA membership.
