SWAT: Entrepreneurs and digital experts on Wednesday urged people, especially youth, to acquire digital skills and learn the Chinese language to join the digital market for handsome earnings.

They gathered in a seminar on ‘Unleash your potential, experts guidance to chart your career path’ at the Swat Public School and College here.

The event was organised by SPS Digital and Skool21 with students, youth and teachers from different parts of the district being in attendance.

The experts said the world had entered the ‘Digital World Order’ that shifted the complete dynamics and paradigm.

They said there was a dire need for equipping youth with advanced engineering innovation and digital technology when things were changing from analogue to digital technologies, robotics, artificial intelligence, and eCommerce.

Experts guide Swat residents on career paths

Young entrepreneurs and digital skills experts also spoke on the occasion and urged students to focus on the digital world instead of conventional formal education.

“I was lucky enough to get a scholarship by a Chinese university, so I took admission there, which opened new learning avenues for me. Artificial intelligence has high scope in the world,” said Zakirullah, an entrepreneur and PhD scholar of artificial intelligence in China.

He also said as a skilled worker, he earned a handsome amount of money.

“Students should learn digital skills if they want to progress in modern times,” he said.

The entrepreneur said students should learn the Chinese language as most online business leaders and eCommerce companies require people with the knowledge of that language.

“For students who intend to get admission to Chinese universities must learn the Chinese language. They will certainly get good scholarships,” said Mehran Khan, a software engineer, who has completed a BS course from China on scholarship.

LAND RECOVERY: Elders of Totanobandai area in Kabal tehsil here on Wednesday complained that their 150 kanals of land had been occupied by security forces one and a half decades ago, so they had to rent houses.

Anwar Ali, Fazal Akbar and Jamshed Mashwani told reporters here that the security forces took their land and houses 15 years ago for an operation against militants, so the families had to rent houses in nearby areas.

They said after the restoration of peace, they wanted to resume farming, so security forces should leave their houses and agricultural land.

The elders said Swat district’s deputy commissioner and Kabal tehsil’s assistant commissioner had promised early resolution of their issue, but to no avail.

They demanded intervention by the army chief and top government men for their relief and warned if the demand wasn’t met, they would take to the streets along with family members, including women and children.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2023