LAHORE: Provincial Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Rai Taimoor Bhatti said on Tuesday the government would expand e-Rozgaar Centers established in various universities of the province from 25 to 40. ​ He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the 25th e-Rozgaar centre, a project of Youth Affairs and Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), at the University of Engineering and Technology (UET).

The minister said that the Higher Education Department was expanding centres to colleges of the province as the project had contributed significantly to the national economy and provided jobs to the graduates.

He said the e-Rozgaar project was as per the government’s agenda to bring the youth to the forefront for their better future and to transform their weaknesses into strength for the progress of Pakistan.

UET Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Fazal Ahmed Khalid said the e-Rozgaar programme empowered students and jobless graduates to earn money through freelancing by using their skills to the full.

PITB Director General-Sajid Latif stated the PITB planned to complete 40 e-Rozgaar centres by next year, including four centers dedicated for females. Up to 600,000 students graduate per annum; only 50,000 could get the job, he added.

He said Pakistan was third country with the most freelancers and fifth populated country in the world.

He said there was a need to introduce PayPal system to facilitate freelancers to get their remittances. The trainees at UET Center generated Rs4.4 million during online training while since the inception of the project so far foreign exchange equivalent to more than Rs70 million have been generated across by the PITB.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2018