KARACHI, Dec 29: Sindh Minister for Local Government and Katchi Abadis Mohammad Hussain said on Friday that a comprehensive roadmap had been formulated for promotion of information technology sector through which more than 130 IT awareness centres (ITAC) would be set up across the province.

He was speaking during his visit to a web portal providing detailed information on various issues and matters of daily life.

The minister said Rs1.5 billion had been earmarked for first phase of planning of IT sector project and 53 ITACs had been established so far. About 80 more centres were in pipeline and planned to be set up in the next three months.

The minister said that the main objective of setting up the centres was to provide basic training of computers to students, besides enabling them to clearly understand the language and terminology of computers.

He said students were being provided with free computer training at the centres through experts. The computer and internet have become vital for better education and learning in every walk of life, he observed, adding that computer literate were being given priority in job market and if this trend persisted, no one without computer literacy would be able to get a job in future.

“The government is fully aware of the importance, and constitution of a separate department of IT is a proof of our commitment to his sector.”

He further said that private sector could play an important role in promoting IT projects as it had the required knowledge, technical expertise and state-of-the-art software at its disposal.

Meanwhile, need for promoting education and educational standards was also highlighted at policy dialogue on education sector reforms and the role of parliamentarians held at the Sindh Assembly Committee Room under the auspices of the Parliamentarians Commission for Human Rights, Pakistan.

Sindh Minister for Education Dr Hamida Khuhro, speaking on the occasion stressed that the community should exhibit commitment for the promotion of education.

“I am sorry to say that the major problem is the lack of commitment among people themselves,” Dr Khuhro remarked.

The minister said that there was a 100 per cent demand on the part of the parents that their children should study in the English-medium schools.

Senator Nisar A. Memon said that the representatives of the people, including Senators, MNAs and MPAs, were keenly interested in the promotion of education and enhancement in academic standards. He also appreciated Dr Khuhro’s announcement that in January 2007, she would be rolling out education plan before elected representatives.

Mr Memon also called for eradication of illiteracy and provision of free and compulsory education to everyone in the shortest possible time.—APP/PPI