Digital Youth Summit: ‘KP govt spending Rs8b to train 100,000 youth in IT sector’

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Science technology and Information Technology Muhammad Atif Khan has said the provincial government is spending Rs3 billion on training of youth in the IT sector and will soon announce an additional amount of Rs5 billions for further trainings aiming to create job opportunities.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of a two-day “Digital Youth Summit 2021 (DYS) -Pakistan’s Premier Tech Conference”, at a local hotel, Atif Khan said the KP government was also setting up Citizens Facilitation Centres as one-window operations for providing basic facilities to the public in all districts of KP.

In Peshawar, Mardan and Swat, the KP government was setting up special technology zones, the minister said, adding that the KP government was consistently working on digital governance to bring transparency.

President Dr Arif Alvi addressed the summit through a video link while Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Shahram Tarakai also attended and addressed the opening ceremony.

Atif Khan said that DYS was Pakistan’s pioneer tech conference and the largest and longest-running tech event had started its journey in 2014.

DYS is characteristically known for attracting large audiences, both national and international, consisting of youth, tech enthusiasts, academia, industry, governments, investors, and members of civil society, said an official communique.

DYS programme is dynamic and primarily focuses its panels, talks, workshops and expo stalls on contemporary ideas and issues prevalent in the information technology sector.

Aamer Ejaz, Chief Digital Officer, Jazz urged the youth to capitalize on platforms such as the Digital Youth Summit to showcase their ideas.

The summit, powered by Jazz, is a regular annual joint initiative of the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the World Bank along with key local community and academic partners.

Aamer said that Pakistan’s startup community is thriving and ticks all the boxes that are needed to strengthen the digital economy.