ISLAMABAD: Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication’s ICT for Girls program has opened doors of IT and modern knowledge for future builders of Pakistan to become entrepreneurs and contributors to national development.
Ministry’s spokesperson told APP (Associated Press of Pakistan) that around 226 computers Labs with allied facilities in educational institutions for girls especially in the rural area of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) are being established.
The labs are being established under present government’s initiative called Prime Minister Education Reforms Programme which was launched with the focus on uplifting the standard of educational institutions in Islamabad.
In collaboration with Microsoft, teachers are primarily trained on Super Skills for the 21st century in addition to the technical domains i.e. cloud computing, web designing, coding, Introduction to databases, basic computer programming, basics of software design and development, a ministry official told APP.
202 teachers have also been placed at these institutions and it will help in making over 110,000 girl students “Computer Literate” studying in Islamabad’s schools and bringing them at par with students elsewhere in the world.
Ministry of IT & Telecom through the USF recently signed an MOU with Huawei at the Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona, under which they will cooperate in spheres of program designing, training and sharing successful experiences in regard with broadband services, vertical public services and intelligent digital platforms.
It will help develop National ICT services execution strategy, support Joint Innovation Center (JIC) for empowering women who are benefiting from the USF ICT for Girls program, he added.
According to Ministry of Information Technology (MoST) the other objective of the program, launched with the joint effort of Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM), Universal Service Fund (USF) and Microsoft, was to help prepare many young girls from the underprivileged area of society, with a goal that they can get suitable occupations.
So far over 150 computer labs have already been established in the country under PBM”s Women Empowerment Centers at a cost of Rs300 million and around 35,000 students are getting training annually.
ICTs for Girls has been playing an active role in knowledge enhancement and ultimately financial independence of women in the country.
Microsoft has been collaborating to provide training to young girls which has been empowering and accrediting them to participate in the socio-economic development and bridging the gender digital-divide.
Official sources at Capital Administration and Development Division while listing steps being taken said these labs would provide equitable opportunities to excel and spread benefits of telecom revolution to rural area students in ICT.
In the first phase, Universal Services Fund, a subsidiary of Ministry of Information Technology would establish 107 Computer Labs in rural areas’ educational institutions (primary level) with allied facilities and teaching faculty.
The sources said tentatively these labs shall be available by the beginning of the new academic session.
Every effort is being made by Federal Directorate of Education, Islamabad to impart quality education to children of ICT including schools situated in rural areas.
Regarding FDE’s steps taken so far, the sources said Islamabad Capital Territory has been divided into six administrative sectors and an officer equivalent to BS-19 heads each administrative area.
Four out of these six areas are located in rural sectors. Since 279 out of 423 Institutions under FDE are located in Rural Setup, hence all initiatives are equally balanced in Rural and Urban sectors.
The sources said the major share of 70 buses reached so far have been provided to Rural Sector Schools while 2147 White Boards & 303 Water Coolers with filters have been installed in educational institutions at cost of Rs. 21.4 million under rehabilitation/uplifting of 200 Institutions-Phase-II.
Renovation/Rehabilitation of physical infrastructure of 200 educational institutions under PMERP in ICT coasting Rs. 2742 million is in process whereas Rs.1000 million has been sanctioned for the scheme. In phase-III, the remaining institutions will be upgraded and missing facilities if any shall be provided whose cost estimation is in process through Project Director (phase II) of PMERP.
Pakistani ministry opens door of modern knowledge for girls from underserved areas
Pakistani ministry opens door of modern knowledge for girls from underserved areas
Four people, including two policemen, killed in twin blasts in northwest Pakistan
- Attack on police van in South Waziristan and motorbike-mounted IED in Lakki Marwat hits KP province
- Violence comes amid a surge in militancy and cross-border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD: At least four people, including two policemen, were killed and about 20 others wounded in two separate blasts in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday, officials said, the latest violence in a region grappling with militant violence.
One explosion targeted a police patrol van in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan district near the Afghan border, while another blast caused by explosives mounted on a motorbike struck a market area in Lakki Marwat district, according to police officials and preliminary reports.
The incidents come amid rising militant violence in Pakistan’s northwest, where authorities say armed groups operate from across the border in Afghanistan, straining relations between Islamabad and the Taliban administration in Kabul, with both sides engaged in a military conflict since last month.
“The control room received information in the evening about a bomb blast targeting a police van in Wana Bazaar,” a police official in the area, who did not want to be named, confirmed while speaking to Arab News over the phone.
He confirmed two deaths in the incident while saying more than 25 people had been injured.
The official said rescue teams responded promptly and shifted three seriously injured people to a nearby hospital in Wana.
In another incident during the day in Lakki Marwat, an improvised explosive device attached to a motorbike exploded near shops.
“Two people have been killed and about 10 have been injured in an IED blast in Lakki Marwat,” Raza Khan, Deputy Superintendent of Police in Bannu, told Arab News.
“The deceased are identified as Shoaib Ur Rehman and Furqan Ullah,” he added. “Shoaib, the owner of the shop, was the brother of the Lakki peace committee head.”
Peace committees in the region are informal, community-based groups that work with security forces to report militant activity and maintain order, making their members frequent targets of attacks.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attacks and expressed grief over the incidents.
“I strongly condemn the blast near a police patrolling vehicle in Wana Bazaar,” Naqvi said in a statement, confirming the killing of four people, including two police personnel.
“Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police are on the front line in the war against terrorism,” he said, noting the force had made “unforgettable sacrifices” in the fight against militant groups.
Militant violence has surged in Pakistan’s border regions in recent months, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban government of allowing militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to operate from Afghan territory — a charge Kabul denies — as cross-border tensions between the two neighbors have escalated.
