Daily Times

LAHORE: March 5 has been announced as the last date to apply online for the Chief Minister’s e-Rozgar Scheme, a joint venture of the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) and Youth Affairs, Sports, Archaeology and Tourism.

The programme is receiving an overwhelming response from graduates below 35 years of age as loads of applications are being received on a daily basis, a statement quoted sources as saying.

The selected candidates will be given three-month training for freelance self-employment at 40 training centres by high profile trainers. Among those, five centres will be dedicated for female candidates. In the first phase 10,000 candidates will be trained in three different batches.

Earlier, several memorandums of understanding (MOUs) for the Chief Minister’s e-Rozgar training programme with 11 selected universities of Punjab were signed to establish training centres in the respective universities.

Those universities where training centres would be established include University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Taxila, Islamia University Bahawalpur Baghdad Campus, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Khawaja Farid University, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, University of Engineering and Technology Chakwal, Comsats Wah Cantt, UET Lahore, University of Gujrat, Lahore College Women University and the Government College Women University Faisalabad.

The programme is aimed at minimising unemployment and providing young professionals with the necessary means to earn an honourable earning online by collaborating with institutions and organisations that share the same vision.

It is also aimed at replicating its model of knowledge-based recruitment, which is credible globally. It will guide network partners in implementing the model.

The programme, the statement added, would give a platform to the people, including fresh graduates, to learn and apply their freelancing skills and would also unveil lucrative career opportunities for the youth.

The training centres will be established over 36 districts of Punjab. On the basis of the infrastructure available, freelancing training centres – co-working spaces – are being established in each district.