KP IT training push gets federal backing in Peshawar

KP IT training for young people and women won federal backing on Wednesday, after Governor Faisal Karim Kundi and a federal minister met in Peshawar.

Kundi chaired the meeting at Governor House together with Federal IT Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja. He asked the federal government to widen the province’s access to its IT programmes.

Why Kundi wants more KP IT training

The governor said modern digital skills would help young people and women find online work. In his view, such jobs would also make them financially self-reliant.

Senior federal and provincial officials joined the session. They included the KP government’s adviser on science and IT, Usman Saifullah, and Chief Secretary Dr Fakhre Alam Irfan. Science and IT Secretary Nisar Ahmad also attended, along with other federal and provincial officials. The PDA chairman, Dr Sohail, and the chief executives of PSEB and Ignite, Faisal Jady and Bilal Abbasi, joined too.

The digital plans under review

Participants reviewed the Digital Master Plan and the National Digital Commission. They also received a briefing on Digital Nation Pakistan.

Officials said all four provinces have seats on the commission. Moreover, the federal government runs 500 digital platforms nationwide, and 150 of them work in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Another report said the government is linking all provinces to one central digital system. A single window would then give citizens easier access to economic and social services, and it would aim to improve business, health and education services.

Federal help and IT parks

Kundi said special youth schemes would follow with federal help. He also asked provincial IT staff to keep in close touch with the federal Ministry of IT.

The governor praised the KP IT Board for its digitalisation progress. Therefore, he said, the province aims to set up extra IT parks with federal aid. Those parks would offer modern training, with a particular focus on women.

Khawaja told provincial leaders her ministry would back them fully. She vowed to help tackle the hurdles that face the province’s IT sector.

In her account, the Digital Skills Programme has already trained 800,000 young people in KP. Further courses are coming, she added, and they will cover artificial intelligence and small business startups.

Why KP IT training ties into a wider image shift

Kundi called it a core priority to empower young people and fit their skills to the modern economy. The province, he observed, had come far, moving from years of terrorism towards tourism and a better image.

He counted digital skills and online jobs as one key part of that shift.

Both sides saw a need for continued teamwork between the two levels of government. That effort, they said, could speed up digital change, expand training capacity and open new income routes for young people.

For now, KP IT training moves from talk to planning, and the next step lies with the provincial IT department and its federal partners. Also, the KP IT training scheme will show results only once new courses and IT parks start work.