Federal Minister for Education and Information Technology, Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali has said that 100,000 youths will be given IT training every year.

Addressing a seminar on “Importance of Education in 21st Century” at Al-Hamra Hall today, he said that he had directed all the concerned departments to chalk-out a comprehensive plan for IT training of the youth, which is the future of Pakistan.

The minister said that efforts were being put in order to spread the broad-band system in every nook and corner of the country while 3G Mobile Technology was also being introduced in Pakistan this year. Pakistani youth has great potential in the field of IT and Telecom Technology, he said and hoped that in the field of software, Pakistan would be among top ten countries in future.

Sardar Assef said, we will have to allocate five to six per cent of the GDP for education sector for achievement of Millennium Development Goals by 2015. However, the federal and provincial governments are under immense financial pressure due to huge spending on war against terrorism, which is eating the vitals of our country.

Earlier, a presentation was given to participants on the Higher National Diploma (HND) offered by Edexcel, which signed an agreement with World Education Centre UK, in this regard.

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has granted HND an equivalence to a two-year Bachelors degree and students are given admission in the 3rd year in universities around the globe to complete their graduation.

Via APP