Punjab Government launched Hunar Program a while ago and it proved to be very beneficial for the young lot and has equipped thousands with advanced digital skills and helped them to get a job. Fortunately for those who were not able to take part in that program, Punjab is bringing back the program with the name Hunar 2.0. The Punjab government has decided to launch Digital Hunar 2.0 program to empower the youth with digital skills and boost job opportunities. For this purpose, a consultation session and a program design workshop were held at Arfa Software Technology Park to discuss the roadmap for Digital Hunar 2.0 initiative.
The opening event was attended by many dignitaries and passionate industry people who showed their faith in the program and are hopeful that it will produce great results for the youth. The event was organized in collaboration among PITB, Punjab Higher Education Department (HED), the Planning & Development (P&D) Board, and Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT and ITeS (P@SHA). Professor Dr. Asghar Zaidi said.
“Design 2.0 is a series of capacity-building training workshops that will employ experts from the IT industry to train university faculty members and young professionals with the latest tech-driven skills. This will also help bridge the technological gap among academia, the IT industry, and the students,”
The corporate sector was also involved in the opening ceremony as a consultation session also invited stakeholders from the government, IT industry, and academia to share their input in the planning and execution of Digital Hunar 2.0. Addressing the stakeholders, Minister IT Dr. Arslan Khalid said that every year there are at least 16,000 university graduates from Punjab out of which 54pc contribute to the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Punjab Minister Higher Education Department (HED) Raja Yassir Humayun Sarfraz, PITB DG e-Governance Sajid Latif, Vice Chancellor Government College University (GCU) and Punjab University Prof. Dr. Asghar Zaidi, Vice Chancellor Government College University Faisalabad Prof. Dr. Shahid Kamal, Member Social General and IT Services P&D Muhammad Masood Anwar and Chairman P@SHA M. Zohaib Khan were among the key guest speakers.
Provincial Minister HED stressed the need to equip the youth with both digital skills and academic knowledge. He said that it is essential to train both students and faculty members of educational institutes with the latest digital skills in order to build stronger human resources and create a pool of qualified professionals.
Commencing in January 2023, the Digital Hunar 2.0 Program as part of “Taleem Aur Hunar Sath Sath Orientation” would be delivered to the graduating batches over a period of six months. An initiative of the Government of Punjab, “Taleem Aur Hunar Sath Sath,” has already been successfully held in some of the main cities in Punjab. The purpose of the drive is to empower the youth and build awareness about efforts to foster both skills and education.
Another great initiative of the Punjab government in this area is the e-Rozgar scheme under which about 48,000 educated youngsters got digital training under e-Rozgar schemes and are earning livelihood amicably through the modern concept of freelancing across the province. In-charge e-Rozgar Training Centre Muzaffargarh Malik Tabraiz in a statement observed that training in seven different programs was in progress, under the joint initiative of the Youth Affairs and Sports Department and the Punjab Information Technology board.
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