Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Information Technology & Telecom through Ignite organised an event in Islamabad on Friday for the induction of the first batch of its flagship programme DigiSkills.

The occasion was graced by Federal Minister for IT & Telecom Yousaf Sheikh and IT & Telecom secretary.

DigiSkills is Pakistan’s largest online, free training programme, 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, while other execution partners include MCOM and Semiotics.

There are a total of seven batches planned under the programme, the first batch of which will start from August 1, 2018. The first batch will offer courses in Freelancing, Digital Marketing, e-Commerce Management and Digital Literacy. Upcoming courses include Search Engine Optimisation, AutoCAD, WordPress, QuickBooks, Graphics Design and Creative Writing.

In his keynote speech, Yousaf Sheikh 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 programme, we aspire to become number one in freelancing in the world,” he said.

During a panel discussion at the event titled Future of Work, Ignite Chief Executive Officer Yousaf Hussain 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 Being Guru Founder Hisham Sarwar, NShields Solution Owner Zia S Hassan, Special Talent Exchange Programme Projects Director & National Forum of Women with Disabilities CEO Abia Akram and senior technology journalist Asad Baig. The moderator Epiphany Co-Founder Samar Hassan highlighted the aspects of diversity and inclusion, stressing that the courses were intended for everyone – housewives, freelancers, students, technical and vocational education and training 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.

Published in Daily Times, July 21^st 2018.