admin 
PESHAWAR, (MANEND NEWS): Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Science Technology and Information Technology (ST&IT) Atif Khan has said modern world is fast transforming towards digitalization and future is of digital development and economy.
The minister expressed these views while addressing the opening ceremony of several digital skills and economic initiatives regarding information technology(IT) sector here on Tuesday.
” KP government has embarked on IT flagship projects worth billions of rupees including e-governance, citizen facilitation centers, establishment of special technology zones and imparting IT training to one hundred thousand youth of the province with aim to equip them with latest digital skills for jobs of the future”, said the minister.
The event was attended by Minister for Finance & Health Taimur Jhagra, women members of provincial assembly, academia, government officials and others in large number.
Speaking on the occasion, Atif Khan said that KP government would soon launch e-governance and citizen facilitation centers which will greatly improve the transparency, accessibility and efficiency of public service delivery in the province.
KP Digital Internship Program and other essential citizen-focused services such as KP Super App and Health Information Management System (HMIS) – innovative technologies that will greatly improve the performance. The event also featured an MoU signing ceremony with Code for Pakistan, and additional MoUs regarding the establishment of Software Technology Parks, inked with Malakand University and Kohat University of Science & Technology.
These initiatives aim to promote digital literacy and the development of a digital economy, providing better and greater job opportunities for the youth of KP.
The ceremony also showcased achievements of the graduating startups, interns, and students, providing them with real life inspiration of what can be achieved when given the opportunity to network with industry leaders and potential investors. From KPITB’s incubation center, Durshal, several successful startups were awarded seed funding; in total, over Rs.12 million were disbursed after startups participated in a competitive selection process. Additionally, KPITB launched the KP Women Civic Digital Internship Program in collaboration with Code for Pakistan, a 6-month internship program designed to equip women graduates with technology skills, provide practical hands-on work experience, and prepare them for exploring careers in Software Development. The program is the first women-centric program of its kind, where women will get an opportunity to work on citizen-facing digital services to improve citizen engagement, automate government processes, and create innovation in public service delivery.
Since its inception, the KPITB’s Durshal program has been successful in generating over Rs. 705 million in revenue over the course of four cohorts, along with creating jobs for over 1,324 individuals in six districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Separately, the digital internship program has trained a total of 2,157 interns, out of which 560 graduates are successfully employed in various public and private organizations, earning Rs 13.1 million average income per annum.
Dr. Ali Mahmud, Managing Director, KPITB said, ‘’By introducing these groundbreaking programs and apps under the digital economy and skills initiatives, we aim to bring a change in the lives of citizens. KP government interventions will enable citizens to easily access public services, improving employment outcomes for citizens by equipping them with digital skills, and empowering our people to contribute to the digital transformation of our province.’’
Regarding the Software Technology Parks in Malakand and Kohat, Dr. Ali said, ‘’Our collaboration with these institutions will promote academia and industry linkages and also bridge gaps in technology and infrastructure access in secondary and tertiary cities. This will help boost IT exports.’’ He further added that the partnership aims to encourage collaboration, digitization, and innovation in both traditional socio-economic sectors and emerging technologies.
The event also celebrated the successful completion of training programs of around 200 students from KP’s newly merged districts in a Directorate of Science and Technology (DoST) project, Shalman School of Technology, which was established to provide quality education at district and tehsil-levels to the students in the areas: Digital Citizenship, introduction to ST & IT, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Design Thinking and Professional.