Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Amin ul Haque on Thursday inaugurated the first digital school of the country in Orangi Town area of Karachi.
The Government Girls’ Secondary School Raees Amrohi was adopted and renovated by Telecom Foundation Education System as the first-ever digital school of the country under the vision of transforming communities.
While speaking at the occasion, Federal IT Minister said that government was working with a futuristic vision of development and prosperity of Pakistan and several measures particularly in information technology and telecommunication sectors were being taken in this regard.
He said that the first ever digital school of the country was opened in Orangi Town, an under-developed and under-served area of Karachi, where students, along with formal education, would also be provided training of market oriented computer and coding skills to enable them to join the digital world and start earning well before completion of their secondary level education.
The minister while reiterating his commitment with development of Orangi Town and welfare of the area residents, said that the digital school would prove another significant career building opportunity for girl students of Orangi Town.
A campus of Virtual University was already working in the area and a modern IT lab was developed at Moulvi Abdul Haq School while CSS coaching classes would also begin in the next month, he said and vowed that steps would be taken to upgrade the digital school to a graduation level educational institute.
The minister said, the federal government has sanctioned Rs.500 million for development of Orangi town and several schemes would start to develop the area, he said and added that he has taken the matter of extension of BRT Orange Line up to Raees Amrohi colony with CM Sindh who consented to the proposal.
Amin ul Haque said that work on Karachi IT Park had already been kicked off and completion of the project would generate thousands of employment opportunities for youth in the metropolis.
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The Centre of Excellence in Karachi University, IT Incubation Centre, steps for promotion of gaming and animation and other considerate measures would further strengthen the IT infrastructure and human resource in the country, he said.
Highlighting the major achievements of IT Ministry, he informed that 70 new project of internet connectivity worth Rs.65 billion had stated in far flanged and under-served areas across Pakistan. He added that teledensity had swelled to over 90 percent and number of mobile phone subscribers reached at 197 million while broadband coverage had been expanded to 124 million people.
Under the policy of affordable smart phone for every citizen, local manufacturing of mobile phone was allowed and now 29 companies including world famous brands have started production in Pakistan, he said and added, we are eyeing at availability of smart phone at affordable price range between Rs.15 to 20 thousand so that every citizen could easily buy a 4-G smart phone and start online business.”
President and CEO Telecom Foundation Zomma Mohiuddin, while speaking at the occasion, expressed his commitment to transformation of communities into digitally facilitated communities and said that students of the digital school will get training of digital courses and coding under Google CS first program.
He said that Orangi Town was selected for the project due to its Human Development Index ranking and higher literacy rate and it would serve a large number of households of under developed area.
Besides formal education and skill development, training will also be provided to students so that they could act as agents of change in their community, he said.
Member Sindh Assembly Sadaqat Hussain, Regional director Telecom Foundation Azam Khan, Director Sindh Education Foundation Ashfaq Hussain Mirani, Director General MoIT and T Aftab Rasheed also spoke at the occasion.
Earlier, Federal Minister Amin ul Haque inaugurated the digital school by cutting the ribbon and also visited IT lab and other sections of the School. The School students also presented tableau on national songs in the ceremony.
The minister also distributed laptops among the students who secured top positions in board examinations while shields and appreciation certificates were also distributed.