Free courses, self-employment training pledged in IT

Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi announced on Wednesday that free online training in courses of information technology (IT) will be given to one million youths of the province for self-employment. The youth, would be able to earn from home after the online training.

He was addressing a ceremony in which a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Punjab Information Technology Board and a Malaysian company was signed. Youths of Punjab will be imparted free online IT training under the MoU.

The chief minister said hundreds of thousands of of self-employment opportunities would be generated through online training. Youths aged 16 to 30 years will be given free online training.

The Malaysian company will provide technical grant for free subscriptions to the Punjab government worth $12 million train the youths free of charge. At least Rs3 billion will be saved in the cost of training.

The CM stated that youths would be provided online training facility for self-employment with the cooperation of the Re-Skills Malaysian company. The youths will have free access to premium learning accounts for up to a year.

He underscored that the youths could enhance their income by completing online professional courses. The youths having smart phones can get training easily through the platform.

The chief minister said the government would provide every facility to the local and international technology companies for the purpose.

The CM’s Special Assistant on IT Dr Arslan Khalid said the Punjab government was going to launch the Digital Skills-2 programme in which high-level technology training for the university youths would be offered.

PITB Chairman Syed Bilal Haider said Pakistan ranked fourth in freelancing at the international level.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2023.