PESHAWAR
\nPresident Dr Arif Alvi here Wednesday called for further accelerating the pace of digital transformation of governance systems by equipping the bureaucracy with relevant tools and skills to put the country on the fast-track of socio-economic development and efficient service delivery.
\nHe added that a specialized cadre of bureaucracy could be raised to help governments speed-up their digital transformation journey and facilitate in the digitalization of government services and business processes.
\nThe President expressed these views during a briefing on projects related to the digital transformation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), at Governor House, Peshawar. The meeting was attended by the KP Minister for Science and Technology & IT, Food and Youth Affairs, Muhammad Atif Khan, and senior officials of the KP Information Technology Board.
\nDuring the meeting, the President highlighted the need to digitalize all aspects of governance by introducing e-governance at all levels of the Government, adding that access to Information Technology (IT) and basic IT infrastructure should be further improved throughout the country.
\nHe said that digitalization of government business would ensure efficient and efficacious service delivery, besides helping reduce financial pilferages and leakages.
\nThe President urged the need to produce market-ready employable graduates by equipping them with marketable and in-demand skills through professional degrees as well as 2-year associate degrees.
\nHe said that partnerships and collaborations among academia, industry and governments should be actively encouraged and pursued to produce market-ready skilled graduates and get them placements in the industry, which would help fulfil the market demand for skilled professionals.
\nHe further stated that technical and vocational programmes and institutes needed to be strengthened and revitalized for youth\u2019s skill development as it would help provide gainful employment to youth.
\nThe President also underlined the need for more skill-development programmes on the pattern of Prime Minister\u2019s digiskills program, adding that almost 2.4 million people from different academic programmes had benefitted from this online digital skill development programme. He further said that online and virtual education could help enhance the number of graduates, who could be provided additional training of 3-6 months to make them ready as per market\u2019s needs.
\nThe President stated that IT and digitalization had opened up new avenues for businesses and commercial activity and now companies and people in remote areas could offer their services online in international markets.
\nHe said that steps should be taken to improve the internet connectivity and basic IT infrastructure in the country to fully benefit from emerging business opportunities.
\nThe President further said that youth, particularly women, could offer their services online while working from home and earn foreign exchange for the country and improve their families\u2019 socio-economic status.
\nThe officials of KP Information Technology Board briefed the President about different initiatives for the digital transformation of the province. It was highlighted that two incubation centres had been established in KP and $500,000 had been disbursed to start-ups, which would help in strengthening the start-up ecosystem in KP. It was further informed that 100,000 had been trained under the KP Youth Empowerment Programme and Employable Digital Skills initiative of the government, besides providing internship opportunities to KP\u2019s youth and women in industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PESHAWAR President Dr Arif Alvi here Wednesday called for further accelerating the pace of digital transformation of governance systems by equipping the bureaucracy with relevant tools and skills to put the country on the fast-track of socio-economic development and efficient service delivery. He added that a specialized cadre of bureaucracy could be raised to help […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294369,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-294203","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-peshawar"},"yoast_head":"\n