LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Tuesday inaugurated e-Rozgaar training programme at the Arfa Kareem Software Technology Park, with 40 centres in 36 districts of the province to train the youth in online jobs.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony, the chief minister said there should be four million such centres so that more and more students could be financially empowered.

He said the government had started various programmes for development and economic empowerment of the youth. The young IT literate boys and girls were not only playing a vital role in development of the country but also sharing the financial burden of their families. That was the path to development and change of the country’s destiny, he added.

“The government is responsible for providing a suitable environment and investment and Punjab is taking exemplary measures in this regard; the e-Rozgaar programme and Khadam-i-Punjab Self-Employment Scheme are part of this vision,” he said.

The chief minister said if Pakistan and Punjab were to progress, “we will have to make the youth engine of the progress”. Under the Khadam-i-Punjab Self-Employment Programme, interest-free loans were being given to the youth and 900,000 boys and girls were now financially independent through this programme.

He said Information Technology University Vice Chancellor Dr Umer Saif laid foundation of the e-Rozgaar programme about three years ago and thousands of youngsters were doing respectable jobs after training at these centres. The government started the Punjab Education Endowment Fund of Rs2 billion in 2008 and now its volume had been enhanced to Rs20 billion. Hundreds of thousands of students were getting education with the financial aid being provided to them under the programme. He said from this scholarship, 175,000 needy students were getting education and 120,000 of them were girls.

Addressing the ceremony, Dr Umer Saif said 60 per cent population of the country comprised youth which was the harbinger of the bright future of the country. He said e-Rozgaar programme had been started as per vision of the chief minister to provide jobs to the youth.

Provincial Ministers Syed Raza Ali Gilani and Jehangir Khanzada also addressed the ceremony and highlighted the importance of e-Rozgaar programme.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2017