HYDERABAD: An estimated 25,000 candidates turned up to take the entry test held in the Niaz Stadium here on Friday for the IT course that has been launched recently in the province under Sindh Governor Mohammad Kamran Khan Tessori’s Initiative.

Addressing the candidates and the media, the governor announced that all those who appeared in the test would be given admission in the course.

He noted that he had taken this initiative despite the difficult economic conditions prevailing in the country only to enable students to learn artificial intelligence (AI) and help them change their destiny.

He said Hyderabad was the second city after Karachi where the test was held, and added that such tests would be held in Sukkur, Mirpurkhas, Larkana and Shaheed Benazirabad at divisional level.

Highlighting importance of AI, he said “gone are the days when wars were fought with swords and manpower”. “Now it is going to be an economic war that will be fought with neighbour through information technology … Pakistan’s IT exports stand at only $2bn to $3bn when compared with India’s $10bn per annum,” he observed.

He hoped that the way 50,000 students were attending the IT course in Karachi, an equal number of them would attend such course in Hyderabad as well.

SIFC hailed

He thanked the army chief for including the IT industry in the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC). Otherwise, he added, students’ labourous efforts would have gone down the drain.

He expressed his confidence that Hyderabad would stand first or second in terms of ranking in the IT sector in future considering the way this city contributed to conventional sectors of Pakistan’s economy.

He also announced that separate quota would be earmarked for families of journalists in this course so that their children get benefitted.

Governor Tessori said that students could earn Rs1.5m to Rs2m [a month] if they excelled in this field. He said this one-year course would be conducted for free in Hyderabad.

Philanthropy

He said that Rs6,000 to Rs8,000 was incurred in each student’s training and these expenses would be borne by the Saylani [Welfare International Trust] and certain philanthropists alone and not by government or Governor House.

He said computers for Hyderabad candidates would be provided by a known company.

About his initiative, the governor said he was helping students earn money on their own to feed their families. Perhaps, rulers wanted to keep the masses poor, but students were needed to hone their skills in order to get rid of poverty on their own because it doesn’t bother anyone if they remained poor, he remarked.

“Pakistan’s economy needs support today; I don’t pin hopes on politicians and we should be ashamed of ourselves in present day’s conditions confronting the country,” he said, adding that the country owed a lot to the IMF and every child is under debt. He noted that all candidates belonged to the middle class, and stressed that they need to grow and excel in practical life.

Complaints of poor arrangements

At the venue of the entry test, aspirants were seen complaining of inadequate number of chairs. One student in his social media clip lamented that the test was conducted without any preparation. He claimed that even test paper was not provided to many students. A number of candidates had to sit on the grass to take the test in spite of the fact that the programme was announced several months ago. Organisers, on their part, said the number of candidates who turned up was close to double than estimated.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2024