Google To Provide 1000 Certifications Scholarships to Balochistan Youth

The Balochistan government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tech Valley Pakistan under which 1,000 Google Career Certificates Scholarships will be provided to the province’s youth.

Chief Secretary Balochistan Abdul Aziz Aqeeli announced on Wednesday that the certificates will be awarded to the participants on completion of training and employment opportunities will be offered to them as well.

He expressed these views while addressing a ceremony organized in collaboration with the government of Balochistan and Tech Valley Pakistan.

The official said information technology (IT) classes will be started in the schools of Balochistan with the help of Tech Valley and Google will provide US$500,000 dollars in this regard.

He said the tech giant will also provide 10 buses which will run in different areas of Balochistan to facilitate the students.

He said it is very important to equip the youth of Balochistan with modern technology “so that they stay focused on the right direction”.

The chief secretary added that the provincial government will provide all necessary support and assistance to Tech Valley Pakistan so that it can start its work as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Tech Valley Pakistan also announced the signing of an MoU with five different departments of the government of Balochistan to distribute Google Career Certificates Scholarships in the region.

It is the third province of Pakistan that has been targeted by Google and has been given scholarships for Google Career Certifications this month. Previously 5000 scholarships have been given to the youth of KP in collaboration with COLLABS and Google has also distributed scholarships amongst the youth of Sindh. Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah witnessed the signing ceremony between Sindh Information, Science & Technology (IST) and Techvalley Pakistan for the Google Career Certification Scholarship Program 2023.

Speaking on the occasion, the CM said that the MOU between the provincial IT dept and Techvalley for advancing Google scholarships to the students studying in government schools, youth, and transgenders for receiving IT-based training or doing IT-based courses to enable them to earn respectable livelihood.

Google would like to scale up this activity across Sindh. As a future course of action, Techvalley Pakistan will commence with other programs such as CS (computer science) First, Digital Google Garage, Be Internet Awesome, Google Cloud Solutions, and Project Management certifications for individuals, youth, and the working staff of Sindh province.

Earlier, the IS&T department of the Sindh govt had signed MoU with Techvalley, and Google Pakistan for offering various training courses to contribute to human capital development in the areas of Technology sector. Besides, Google has also shown its commitment to enhancing the education sector’s capacity in respect of Education Tools, Teachers’ Training & Certifications, Empowering IT Staff, and Transforming Computer Labs.

The current Google offer is free certification courses for the youth of Sindh in IT support, IT Automation, Data Analytics, Project Management, UX Design, Digital Marketing E-Commerce, cyber security, Advance Data Analytics, and Advance Business Intelligence.

The total scholarship offered by Google is up to 5000. The total training hours for each certification is 160 hours within the period of four months. The program is inclusive and provides equal opportunity to women and people with special abilities.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Technology Board (KPITB) has collaborated with Google and has launched the “Grow with Google” program. The program will offer 5,000 scholarships for Pakistanis and the scholarships would be given for the most in-demand Google certifications. The initiative aims to upskill the youth of the province, enabling them to explore better career options in the global market space and become globally competitive.

The program is being run by TechValley in Pakistan and it will additionally be focusing on enabling women to benefit from the opportunity, with a launch on International Women’s Day to celebrate the contribution of women in society.

Google has other concerns in mind rather than just goodwill, a global digital skills shortage being one of them. Experts are warning that millions of jobs are going unfilled due to a lack of qualified candidates. According to a report by the World Economic Forum, by 2025, over 85 million jobs could go unfilled due to a lack of skilled workers.

Pakistan is a country that has been affected by the lack of skilled people prior to the global trend as even the graduates lack professional skills in their respective fields. According to a recent report by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan warning that the country is facing a digital skills gap, with a shortage of skilled workers in areas such as software development, data analytics, and cybersecurity.

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