Computer lab offers free courses to women

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information Technology Anusha Rahman said on Wednesday that strengthening and enhancing the outreach of social safety nets for the poor was the priority of the government.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of a computer lab in Women Empowerment Centre (WEC) of Pakistan Baitul Mal (PBM), she said the PBM’s role in assisting the vulnerable segments for their economic uplift and social prosperity was highly commendable.



Minister for CADD Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, PBM Managing Director Barrister Abid Waheed Sheikh and Universal Service Fund Chief Executive Officer Haris Chaudhry were also present on the occasion.

Anusha said modern IT labs would enable the young girls to get free of cost skill training for economic empowerment.

She advised the students to work hard and get equipped with modern technologies to become economically stable and self-reliant.

Tariq Fazal appreciated the PBM MD for playing a dynamic role for women empowerment through equipping them with IT and other contemporary skills.

PBM MD Barrister Abid Waheed Sheikh said the PBM was taking practical measures for materialising present government’s commitment for extending maximum support to the deprived sections of the society.

He said some 154 WECs were currently rendering services for women empowerment across the country, including AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan. During last four years, those centres had been revamped with introduction of modern technologies for meeting the challenges of modern world, he added.



Barrister Abid said around 11,000 trainees were currently registered with the centres while around 160,000 women had already benefitted from them.

The PBM, he said, was establishing computer labs in collaboration with the Ministry of IT and Universal Service Fund, while Microsoft was training the teachers of WECs.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2017.