Syed Amin Ul Haque, the Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication, inaugurated the AI-Based Career Counselling Portal on Thursday. The ceremony was held in the committee room of the Ministry of IT and was attended by Additional Secretary Aisha Humera Moriani and other senior officers of the Ministry of IT.
The portal is developed by the Pakistan Software Export Board. The basic purpose is to serve as a helping guide for young IT professionals.
“Young people choosing the IT field often do not know which field is beneficial for them,” commented Aminul Haq during the inauguration. The portal will make it easier for the youth to make career decisions and find employment, he added.
The portal’s career counseling will be facilitated through artificial intelligence in collaboration with Botnostic Solutions.
Pakistan produces about 445,000 university graduates and 25,000–30,000 computer science graduates per year. With this amount of graduates, Pakistan should have a huge tech industry and the corporate industry should be top-notch but in reality, it’s quite opposite. In process of producing this many graduates, universities sacrifice the quality of education delivered to them that they can use in industry and benefit their employer, instead employers have to train the graduates themself in order to get some services from them.
Two-thirds of Pakistan’s population consists of young people under the age of 30. This young population is a valuable asset to Pakistan that can become invaluable in the world of technology.
“The number of career counselors is lackluster in urban areas and non-existent in rural areas, therefore there is a need to provide comprehensive guidance to the youth. This effort of the Pakistan Software Export Board, an institution of the Ministry of IT, is a link in the same chain,”- Syed Added
We strive for Pakistan to get a fair share of the global ICT industry worth trillions of dollars. This dream will be fulfilled only when we can guide our youth in the right direction.”
“Through this portal, the local and international IT industry will also be able to find suitable candidates. Pakistan’s IT export is two and a half billion dollars, we have to reach the target of at least $15 billion,”
The ministry is working to provide broadband services and freelancing training across the country to achieve this target.
“The IT industry has the potential to clear Pakistan’s entire debt and stabilize the economy,”
“It is important that all relevant ministries play their role in solving the problems of the IT and telecom sectors. If the problems of the ITV Telecom sector are solved, it can solve the economic problems of the country,”
The Pakistani government, through its ministry of education as well as a ministry of youth affairs, is planning to improve the employment of university graduates over the next five years with specific targets of creating 10 million jobs for graduate students.
There is a need for many more initiatives from the government and massive upgradation of our college and university degrees if we are to compete with the rest of the world in the tech industry.
