The Digital Hunar 2.0 programme will be made available by the Punjab government in an effort to increase job opportunities for young people and equip them with digital skills. In order to discuss the roadmap for the Digital Hunar 2.0 initiative, a consultation session and a programme design workshop were held at Arfa Software Technology Park.
The Punjab Higher Education Department (HED), the Planning & Development (P&D) Board, and the Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT and ITeS (P@SHA) collaborated to organise the event.
The Punjab Minister for Higher Education (HED), Raja Yassir Humayun Sarfraz, the PITB Director General for e-Governance, Sajid Latif, the Vice Chancellors of Government College University (GCU) and Punjab University, Prof. Dr. Asghar Zaidi and Prof. Dr. Shahid Kamal, Member of the Social General and IT Services P&D, Muhammad Masood Anwar, and Chairman of P@SHA, M. Zohai
Participants in the consultation session were also invited to share their ideas on the planning and implementation of Digital Hunar 2.0 with representatives from the government, the IT sector, and academia.
Dr. Arslan Khalid, the minister of IT for Punjab, stated that at least 16,000 university graduates from Punjab graduate each year, and that they contribute 54% of the country’s annual Gross Domestic Product. The goal of Design 2.0 is to benefit both the country’s economic development and the youth by producing at least 20,000 jobs across Punjab.
The provincial minister HED emphasised the importance of educating the youth in both academics and digital skills. He stated that in order to develop stronger human resources and produce a pool of qualified professionals, it is crucial to train both students and faculty members of educational institutions in the most recent digital skills.
“Design 2.0 is a series of capacity-building training workshops that will use professionals from the IT sector to educate college professors and aspiring professionals in the most recent tech-driven skills. The technological divide between academia, the IT industry, and the students will also be reduced as a result, according to Professor Dr. Asghar Zaidi.
The graduating batches will receive the Digital Hunar 2.0 Program as part of “Taleem Aur Hunar Sath Sath Orientation” over the course of six months beginning in January 2023. “Taleem Aur Hunar Sath Sath,” a government of Punjab initiative, has already been held with success in some of the major cities in Punjab.
The campaign’s goals are to empower young people and raise public awareness of initiatives to promote both education and skill development.