Punjab Information Technology Board has joined hands with iamtheCODE, the United Kingdom-registered charitable foundation working to expand technology education for women and girls globally, to launch a free digital skills programme offering thousands of courses across artificial intelligence, coding, digital skills, and related fields to learners across Punjab. The initiative, which carries globally recognised certifications, is positioned as an accessible entry point into the digital economy for a broad cross-section of the population, with registration open to students, job seekers, freelancers, and working professionals.
The programme is structured around three core propositions: access to thousands of courses spanning artificial intelligence, coding, and digital skills; a fully flexible learn-anytime, anywhere model that removes geographic and scheduling barriers for learners across the province; and globally recognised certifications that carry industry relevance and can meaningfully improve employability and professional standing in a job market where digital competencies are increasingly non-negotiable. The combination of breadth, flexibility, and internationally credible credentials makes the offering particularly well-suited to Punjab’s large and diverse population of young people who are actively seeking pathways into the digital economy but may lack access to formal technology education institutions.
The programme gives preference to female applicants, reflecting both iamtheCODE’s core mission of closing the gender gap in technology and Punjab Information Technology Board’s recognition that women and girls remain structurally underrepresented in the province’s digital skills pipeline. This preference does not make the programme exclusive to women, as it is open to students, job seekers, freelancers, and professionals of all backgrounds, but it signals a deliberate design choice to prioritise female participation in a domain where access barriers have historically been highest for women. The initiative builds on the existing partnership between Punjab Information Technology Board and iamtheCODE, which was announced earlier this year as part of a broader commitment to reaching one million women and girls with digital skills by 2030.
For Punjab, which is home to over 128 million people and houses a large share of Pakistan’s emerging technology workforce, a province-wide free digital skills programme of this scope addresses a gap that neither formal education institutions nor private sector training providers have been able to fill at scale. With Pakistan’s information technology exports crossing USD 3.39 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year and demand for skilled digital talent continuing to grow, initiatives that bring structured, certified, and accessible training to the broadest possible audience carry direct relevance to the country’s longer-term technology and export ambitions. Interested participants can register through the link shared in the programme’s official communications.
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