KARACHI, July 24: The information technology department of the Sindh government, in collaboration with the Computer Society of Pakistan and the Pakistan Software Houses Association, plans to set up an accreditation council which will certify IT professionals.

This was announced by the information technology secretary of the Sindh government, Yahya Waliullah, at a press conference here on Thursday.

The chairman of the Computer Society of Pakistan, Abdul Ghaffar Memon, told newsmen that a memorandum of understanding had been signed with the British Computer Society, which had received a charter in the United Kingdom to certify information technology professionals.

He added that a committee had been formed to work out the composition and modalities of the accreditation council.

Mr Waliullah hoped that the accreditation council would go a long way towards making the degrees of information technology professionals of the country acceptable to the world-renowned educational institutions.

Briefing newsmen about the seminar on technological advancements in the financial sector, which would be held on Saturday, he said the Sindh government had supported all private sector initiatives in the field of information technology.

Mr Memon said it was the first time that the Sindh government, the Computer Society of Pakistan and the Pakistan Software Houses Association had joined hands to organize an event.

“The reason why the financial sector has been selected is that Karachi is the hub of economic activity. There are many countries in the world where Pakistanis are working in the financial sector. In 1972, when the Computer Society of Pakistan was established, Pakistan was considered better than India. Then our certain policies retarded our growth afterwards,” he explained.

He added that at least one Indian company had purchased a software made by a Pakistani information technology firm.

He said that in addition to the accreditation council, an internship programme for information technology graduates was also being worked out under which students would be given an opportunity to acquire hands-on experience on the job, thus enabling them to explore the job market in a more confident manner.

He said the Computer Society of Pakistan and the Pakistan Software Houses Association would organize a seminar and an exhibition in Lahore in October, which would also be held in Karachi in December.

The Sindh minister for information technology, Yaqoob Ilyas, said that the governor had approved the constitution of an information technology board which would start functioning in a couple of days.

“The information technology department is discussing with the education department whether the former could acquire portions of buildings not fully occupied so that at least 14 information technology centres could be established,” he explained.

The minister said that government employees were being provided training in the field of information technology. “The government plans to train 15,000 employees. So far at least 2,000 government employees have already been trained. After their training, they would be provided with computers and other information technology equipment,” he said.

The Sindh information secretary said that at present the government was concentrating on those areas which affected the masses most. He added that work was in progress on the computerization of the police department, excise and taxation departments and the Board of Revenue.