Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom — through Ignite — organized an event in Islamabad for the induction of the first batch of its flagship program, DigiSkills.
The occasion was graced by Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecom, Mr. Yusuf Shaikh and Secretary, Information Technology and Telecom.
DigiSkills is Pakistan’s largest online, free training program, which aims to equip a million people across the country with digital skills to help prepare them for the future of work.
These courses are designed by local industry leaders and experts in collaboration with online learning veterans at Virtual University, execution partners including MCOM, Epiphany, Semiotics and Information Architects.
There are a total of seven batches planned under the program, the first batch of which will start from August 1, 2018.
The first batch will offer courses in:
- Freelancing
- Digital Marketing
- e-Commerce Management
- Digital Literacy
Upcoming courses include:
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- AutoCAD
- WordPress
- QuickBooks
- Graphics Design
- Creative Writing.
In his keynote speech, Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecom, Mr. Yusuf Shaikh expressed his enthusiasm for this initiative. “DigiSkills is especially designed to equip participants with necessary knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to take maximum advantage of the opportunities available for freelancing, employment and entrepreneurship. Through this program, we aspire to become number one in freelancing in the world.”
Mr. Hussain was delighted to report that DigiSkills had surpassed its enrollment targets by 250 percent and had crossed 55,000 enrollments.
During a panel discussion at the event titled Future of Work, Yusuf Hussain, CEO Ignite stated: “DigiSkills is envisioned to become the Coursera of Pakistan. It is unique in terms of engaging and relevant content, online coaches and data analytics to increase trainee retention and course completion”.
He was joined by Mr. Hisham Sarwar, Founder at Being Guru; Ms. Zia S. Hasan, a woman business owner running NShield Solutions, Ms. Abia Akram, Director Projects Special Talent Exchange Program (STEP) & CEO National Forum of Women with Disabilities, and Asad Baig – a senior technology journalist.
The moderator, Ms. Samar Hasan, Co-Founder Epiphany, highlighted the aspects of diversity and inclusion, stressing that the courses were intended for everyone – housewives, freelancers, students, TVET graduates and people with disabilities, without any pre-requisite requirement of computer knowledge.
The training courses are available at a user-friendly web portal and a comprehensive online Learning Management System at all times. Students can register in their desired courses free of cost and learn online through video lectures at their own convenience and pace.
An online mechanism has also been developed to engage students and track their performance through intelligent assessment.
To register, interested individuals can log on to digiskills.pk.
Not a single person ‘man’ enough to give some credit to the government that innovated and rolled out the entire DigiSkills program more than a year ago. Never mind give some credit to an individual whose dream and brainchild it actually was. One things for sure, It certainly wasn’t the dream or brainchild of the Ignite CEO as he had not even being recruited at Ignite at that time.