PITB, IT industry and academia join hands to launch Digital Hunar 2.0 to empower youth

LAHORE – Punjab government has decided to launch Digital Hunar 2.0 program to empower the youth with digital skills and boost job opportunities. For this purpose a consultation session and a program design workshop was held at Arfa Software Technology Park to discuss the roadmap for Digital Hunar 2.0 initiative.

The event was organized in collaboration among PITB, Punjab Higher Education Department (HED), Planning & Development (P&D) Board and Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT and ITeS (P@SHA).

Punjab Minister Higher Education Department (HED) Raja Yassir Humayun Sarfraz, PITB DG e-Governance Sajid Latif, Vice Chancellor Government College University (GCU) and Punjab University Prof. Dr. Asghar Zaidi, Vice Chancellor Government College University Faisalabad Prof. Dr. Shahid Kamal, Member Social General and IT Services P&D Muhammad Masood Anwar and Chairman P@SHA M. Zohaib Khan were among the key guest speakers.

The consultation session also invited stakeholders from the government, IT industry and academia to share their input in the planning and execution of the Digital Hunar 2.0.

While addressing the stakeholders Punjab Minister IT Dr. Arslan Khalid said that every year there are at least 16,000 university graduates from Punjab out of which 54% contribute to the annual Gross

Domestic Product (GDP). The purpose of Design 2.0 is to create at least 20,000 jobs across Punjab and benefit both the youth and the economic growth of the country.

Provincial Minister HED Punjab Raja Yassir Humayun Sarfraz stressed on the need to equip the youth with both digital skills and academic knowledge. He said that it is essential to train both students and faculty members of the educational institutes with the latest digital skills in order to build a stronger human resource and create a pool of quality professionals.

“Design 2.0 is a series of capacity building training workshops that will employ experts from the IT industry to train university faculty members and young professionals with the latest tech driven skills. This will also help in bridging the gap among the academia, IT industry and the students,” Professor Dr. Asghar Zaidi said.

Commencing in January 2023, Digital Hunar 2.0 Program as part of ‘Taleem Aur Hunar Sath Sath Orientation’ would be delivered to the graduating batches over a period of six months. An initiative of the Government of Punjab, ‘Taleem Aur Hunar Sath Sath’ has already been successfully held in some of the main cities in Punjab. The purpose of the drive is to empower the youth and build awareness about making efforts to foster both skills and education.