LAHORE: Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja says Pakistan’s $15bn IT export target faces a skills bottleneck because the country lacks sufficient skilled, industry-ready talent.

She was speaking in a session on “Taking Pakistan’s IT Industry to the Next Level” jointly organised by American Business Forum (ABF) and Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) on Saturday.

Ms Fatima disclosed that around 33,000 seventh and eighth-semester computer science students had sat a national baseline test but only 0.4% scored above 80% while around 4% scored above 68% across 10 employability competencies.

“The jobs are there. The opportunity is there. But the right people with the right skills are not there,” she said, stressing the need for structural changes in curricula, teaching and the K-12 education system. The minister highlighted the importance of strengthening the broader digital ecosystem, including fibre connectivity, mobile broadband, and satellite regulations.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2026