Information and Communication Technology development in Pakistan
[dateline 2013] [work of 4 x officers]
Increasing use of Information and Communication Technology in
development of various sectors requires competitive Human Resource Development
based on Information Technology Industry occupation matrix and productive
government – industry – academia linkage, which is wanting in Pakistan
INTRODUCTION
Human resources development (HRD) has been defined as
empowering people by fostering the contributory capacities that they can bring
to the improvement of their own quality of life and that of their families,
communities, enterprises and societies. [1]
The ‘new growth theory’ links economic backwardness
to low labor efficiency and training, deficient supplies of entrepreneurship
and slow growth in knowledge. The countries that have surged ahead, on the
other hand, are characterized by high level of human capital accumulation where
the educated labour force has raised the level of output and the rate of growth
over a sustained period of time. [2] Currently, the singular definition of Information
Technology (IT) is that “In its broadest
sense an IT job involves the creation, storage, exchange and/or use of
information through technological means. More specifically, it encompasses
occupations that require designing and developing software and hardware
systems; providing technical support for computer and peripheral systems; and
creating and managing network systems and databases.”
Two separate definitions of IT workers
have been adopted: core IT workers and IT-related occupations. The former
includes four occupations that are deemed critical in the development of
information technology and are also at the centre of the IT skill shortage
issues – computer scientists, computer engineers, systems analysts and computer
programmers.The latter includes 22 occupations that utilize IT intensively or
are closely related to the IT industry such as computer system managers,
database administrators and computer equipment operators etc.[3]
According to the World Bank there are three main components of
economic growth with their contributions in percentage respectively; Human
Capital -64%, Physical Capital - 16% and Natural Capital - 20%. It recommends
that designing and implementation of effective HR policies must be considered
as an essential investment on HR community and not as expenditure. Per-capital
investment in human capital development in regional countries of the world in
US$ is determined as; Pakistan- 10, India- 31, Indonesia- 54, Malaysia- 150 and
South Korea- 160. [4]
Comparison
of select Asia Pacific countries including Pakistan in respect of HRD in IT and
broad recommendations to arrest the situation has been taken from the UN report
of the Conference in Seoul in 2000[5]. In the regional context China faces
serious shortage of qualified IT personnel and improvement in public education with
technical training and continuing education for the employees, provided or
supported by enterprises is the panacea for this issue. India is able to
cater to IT industry’s needs for its export and domestic market growth
projections take the benefits of IT to the masses. Indian government’s initiatives
to strengthen IT education at various levels, including in schools and private
sector playing a significant role in IT education prepares it not only cater to
the domestic needs of IT professionals, but also to address the demand in other
countries.
Indonesia has developed IT-oriented
education facilities. The rapid development of the IT sector has prompted the
setting up of several private institutions to develop HR for IT, though quality
standards need to be improved. Kyrgyzstan needs to develop a national
policy on HRD for IT needs. Malaysia’s ICT policy has been determined by a shift from using
ICT as an enabler to developing ICT as a sector. [6]
In Republic of Korea the supply of new IT
workers is not expected to match the increasing demand, resulting in
substantial skills shortage. The Government of the Republic of Korea has
responded to this challenge by investing heavily in human resources development
for IT.
The regional review paper on management of HRD for IT, presented
in the Conference, noted that the countries in the Asia-Pacific region are
uniquely placed to bridge the global gap in HR for IT, provided systematic
planning and action are undertaken to create the requisite human resources in
the region. It also identified some critical problems – such as
non-availability of qualified trainers and teachers, lack of adequate
infrastructure and access to educational materials – as serious impediments
towards achieving this end. [7]
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Pakistan is the 7th most populous country in the world
and its literacy rate places it at 113 in 120 countries. [8] It is 146th on
Human Development Index amongst 187 countries.[9] In comparison, Malaysia is
at 58th, Thailand 74th, Sri Lanka 99th, China
104th and India 127th. [10] The process of
computerization in Pakistan started in 1957, when a company named ‘Packages
Ltd.” started using computer for its work. The first private software company,
“Systems Private Limited” was established in Lahore in 1977 followed by
liberalization of imports of the hardware and software imports in 1985. IT
revolution occurred in the early 1990s as Internet Service Providers started
internet services. On the turn of the century the government gave a lot of
emphasis to IT Sector. New IT educational institutes were opened, professionals
were hired to impart IT training in universities, seminars, forums, exhibitions
and competitions were arranged and computer science was introduced as a subject
in elementary and secondary education. [11]
Initially the Ministry of Science & Technology (MoST) was
responsible for the ‘subject’ of IT but in Nov 2002 a separate ministry for
Information Technology (MoIT) was created.
Many other departments/ institutions like Electronic Government
Directorate, Pakistan Computer Bureau, Pakistan Software Export Board, Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority, Computer Society of Pakistan, Pakistan Software
Houses Association etc. are working side by side the Ministry of Information
Technology. [12]
Pakistan’s first IT policy [13], reportedly drafted by Dr
S M Junaid Zaidi[14],
was announced as “IT Policy and Action
Plan 2000” by the Ministry of Science and Technology on 18 Aug 2000. With
regards to Human Resource Development, the policy lays down the ‘strategies’
and ‘action plan’. The strategies focus on the development of large pool of
skilled manpower, both for local and export needs through comprehensive plan
for education and HRD in IT, including through collaboration under
Public-Private Partnership, to meet the present and future requirements.
The Action Plan on HRD,
where implementation of projects was made the responsibility of MoIT, is
abridged as below:-
i.
Training of Blue
Collar IT Workers.
ii.
Establishment
of National Accreditation Council and Testing Service.
iii.
Scholarships and
Qarz-e-Hasna Scheme for students.
iv.
Internet for public sector
Universities with intraband connecting all educational institutions (public and
private) with centralized data warehouse containing teaching etc;
v.
Faculty Training
and establishment of Faculty Chairs.
vi.
Hiring of
Faculty from Abroad – for accredited Universities and on market salaries.
vii.
Strengthening
and Capacity Building at IT Institutes and Universities.
viii.
IT Labs at major public and private sector
universities, colleges, government training institutes and schools.
ix.
Short courses for data entry and other
low-tech jobs.
x.
Computer
Literacy of Government Officers.
xi.
Computer
Literacy for all University Graduates.
xii.
Micro Credit
Facilities for
the purchase of computers and telecom equipment to help set up small software
hatcheries and to develop computer education to the general public.
A document indicating progress on UN website indicates that 7 new
IT Universities are being established and a Virtual University with expected
50,000 students in three years time is being set up. Furthermore 30 public
sector degree-awarding institutes have been provided funds to start IT programs
and to increase the intake of Bachelors and Masters candidates in IT. Faculty
of international caliber is invited to join local universities. Scholarships
have been awarded for Bachelors and Masters courses in IT and Computer Science.
The selection of the students is based on merit. A follow-on project is in the
pipeline that will expand this scheme to accommodate a much larger number of
students. 12000 school teachers will be trained within one year in a joint program
with INTEL and several projects have been launched to impart this type of
training. These include the training of 20,000 government employees in basic IT
education, 500 doctors and 200 graduates in Medical Transcription, 1000 Java
Developers etc. Projects for training high level IT professionals (Ph.D.s) in
the best national universities and abroad are under process. [15] On the other side of the
spectrum, in 2013 the number of IT personnel / analysts going abroad is 11,872
out of the total overseas employment of 6.923 M which comes to a measely 0.17
%. However, the increase over the last ten years is from 379 to 11,872 and
comes to 3200 %. [16]
In 2012 the Government of Pakistan came
up with draft
of ‘National Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) Policy’[17] which covers six basic
social pillars of economy, culture, human resources, infrastructure,
legislative reforms, and regional integration. Additionally, the document
covers seven thematic focus areas. These are education, agriculture, health and
disaster management, governance, empowerment (gender perspective), and
multilingualism and localization of content.[18] The draft has been shared
with all stakeholders for consensus.
ANALYSIS
IT
or ICT is a subject NOT devolved to the provinces under the 18th
amendment reforms package. Article 70(4) of the Constitution determines the
Fourth Schedule wherein the Federal Legislative List Part II in its Item 7
(National planning and national economic coordination including planning
and coordination of scientific and technological research) and Item 12 (Standards
in institutions for higher education and research, scientific and technical
institutions) retains these subjects with the Federal Government.
Methodology
During
the research process, in addition to research through the documents available
on the world wide web, interviews, both in person and on telephone were held
with the following resource persons (some of them more in detailed than others)
and data was obtained through email too:
1.
Mr Akhlaq Ahmad Tarar, Federal Secretary
MoIT
2.
Dr Umer Saif, Chairman Punjab IT Board
3.
Mr Parvez Ahmad Seehar, Secretary IT
Sindh
4.
Mr Zafar Iqbal, Secretary IT KP
5.
Mr Akhtar Muhammad Kakar, Secretary IT
Baluchistan (Response awaited)
6.
Mr Sajid Latif, DG e-Government, Punjab
IT Board
7.
Ms Raana Ahmed, Member IT FBR (former
Chairman PITB)
8.
Mr Muhammad Aamir Malik, Member IT, MoIT
9.
Dr Arshad Ali, Principal School of
Engineering & Computer Sciences, NUST
10.
Dr Izhar Hussain, Registrar COMSATS
11.
Prof Dr Fazal Ahmad Khalid, Pro-Rector
GIKI Swabi
12.
Mr Asfar Manzoor, Vice President
(Business), Mobilink
13.
Mr Saifur Rehman Abbasi, Manager HR
NADRA – visiting faculty FAST
14.
Dr Zafar Iqbal, Director FAST
15.
Capt. Saqib Zafar (Ret), Participant 14th
SMC, former Secretary IT Baluchistan
16.
P@SHA (through email)
17.
Mr Rahim Bakhsh Channa, DG HEC
18.
Students of IT and computer operators
Points
coming out of this interaction with regard to efforts of Government sector and
other information gathered as research are:-
1.
Ministry
of IT states
that it maintains
regular contact with the IT industry stakeholders including companies, software
developers, universities as well as provinces. However, this fact was not
corroborated by any of these ‘stakeholders’. The MoIT further presents that
financial subsidy has been provided to IT companiesfor 698 apprentices.
Similarly, MoIT placed 5500 graduate interns with the IT companies 90% of these
interns were subsequently hired by the IT companies thereby making the program
a tremendous success. Over 80,000 government officials have also been provided
training.
2. Government of Punjab deals with subject of
IT through the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB)
established in 1999. The initiatives launched by the Board include, amongst
others, MIS for
Maintenance of Agri-Machinery, Agriculture Marketing Information Service, Online College Admissions
System, e-Governance in
shape of Citizen Contact Centre, Citizen Feedback Model, Motor Transport Management
Information System,Punjab Health Line, Model Police Stations, database of
livestock farmers, computerization of Transport Department etc. Services
include citizen services and bank office applications. [19] The IT Training
Academy being established will offer 6 courses and the Microsoft Innovation
Centre will
work with the academic community, local software companies, entrepreneurs and
startups, to allow them to test, pilot and embed the latest technologies in
their products and solutions, enabling them to compete in the global economy by
developing solutions made in Punjab. The Plan-9 Tech Incubator, the first in Pakistan, is designed to
accelerate the successful development of entrepreneurial, product-oriented IT
companies.
3.
Government
of KP has
established an IT Excellence Centre to provide opportunities of IT Training and
Capacity building to select IT Graduates of public and private sector
Universities in (i) Web Applications, (ii) Business Applications, (iii) Network
Management, (iv) Project Management – the last one for government employees
only. [20] It is in the process of
framing a comprehensive ‘IT Policy’ and an ‘IT Master Plan 2013-18’ with five
components that help define an ecosystem that covers government, citizen
services, business, ICT Literacy and Research & Development.
4.
Government
of Sindh is working to establish and drive the eco-system
required for the growth of the IT industry and to promote ICT by addressing IT
services, IT skills and capacity building, IT infrastructure and IT global
image. Projects include Hospital Management Information System for Civil
Hospital, Karachi, establishment of video conferencing system in Sindh
government offices, biometric identification electronic system in government
offices, introduction of e-policing system, development of Arfa Kareem IT city
(in process) on a 200-acre and IT training for capacity building of government
employees. Call
Centres training for jobless graduates and under graduates and IT awareness
centres for communities living in slums are also in process. [21]
5.
Government of Baluchistan has a
draft IT Policy since 2008 which concentrates on HRD, Infrastructure, software
and hardware industry development and incentives for hardware development
enterprizes. Interaction with Capt Saqib Zafar (Retd), a participant who
has remained Secretary IT Baluchistan revealed that the province has state of
the art IT University, the government has established 6 IT information and
facilitation centres in various districts and a video conferencing system in
the public sector to communicate efficiently over long distances in the
province.
6.
In FATA
the
‘FATA Information Technology Policy 2012’ has been approved by the Governor and
stands notified. The policy essentials are to establish a modern, efficient and cost-effective IT
infrastructure in FATA that provides equitable access to national and
international markets, develop high quality human resource and extensive pool of
trained IT manpower at all levels to meet local and regional demand, launch an
e-Government program to promote widespread use of IT applications in government
organizations, enable FATA government Institutions to act as facilitators and
enablers, providing maximum opportunities to the private sector to lead the
thrust in development of IT, provide
business incentives for
local and national investors to
ensure the development
of FATA's IT
sector through an Information Technology Advisory Council are also part
of it. [22]
The Action Plan 2013, in HRD, contains ICT Centers for un-employed FATA Graduates,
Training Centers for Government Employees, ICT Higher Learning Institution,
Recruitment & Training of IT Teachers, ICT Scholarship and Internship
Program and extension of Virtual University Campus in All Agency HQs.
7.
The Provinces were of the opinion that
while the subject of IT has not been devolved still there is no productive
coordination between them and the Federal Government. While no province has an
IT Policy per se, their efforts are not in consonance with national policy.
8.
The Provinces reported that ‘appetite’
of the market for human resource requirement has never been checked and there
is even no survey mechanism for that. While internationally the view is that there
is no perfect method for forecasting the work force demand, especially in IT,
the availability of suitable data is a precondition for applying the methods
based on past trends to forecast the future. There should have been a survey
mechanism in place which repeated itself every 3-5 years to assess market
requirements for skilled IT HR.
9.
The IT direction of PITB is based on e-Governance,
citizen services, Industry Support and IT Education, a pattern exactly followed
in the Indian state of Bihar through its ‘Information and Communication
Technology Policy 2012’. However, Bihar has a written document which is much
more comprehensive and has the objectives of (1) Human and Intellectual Capital
Resources, (2) Employment, (3) IT Infrastructure, (4) e-Governance, (5)
Investment, (6) Environment and (7) Regulation. It aims to bridge the digital divide,
which separates citizen in urban areas from those in rural areas by delivering
on-line services to every citizen. [23] Government of Andhra
Pardesh has started eSeva providing a wide spectrum of citizen-friendly
services that will save citizens the bother of running around various
departments. Services include payment of utility bills, Certificates and
licenses, registrations, transport, ATMs etc. [24]
10. While
we have no formal arrangement India has a ‘National Policy on Information and
Communication Technology in School Education’ under its Department of School Education and Literacy Ministry of Human Resource
Development which includes a Computer Literacy And Studies in Schools (CLASS)
program based on exclusive ICT curriculum at that level with evaluations by
their Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education. More importantly it has
an ICT program for children with special needs, which includes software and
tools to facilitate their access like screen readers, braille readers etc. [25]In
Pakistan, Higher Education Commission (HEC) has an e-Academia ICT strategy
which encourages and empowers institutions of higher learning with strong ICT
infrastructure within the campuses and interconnecting them through a high
speed backbone of Pakistan Education and Research network (PERN). [26]
Industry Overview& Private Sector
According to Pakistan
Software Export Board (PSEB), we are fast becoming the destination of choice
for a significant number of international IT companies looking to relocate
their operations offshore. The ready availability of skilled professionals, an
appropriate IT infrastructure, and affordable rates for connectivity results in
considerable time and cost-savings for entrepreneurs. Pakistan's IT industry's
global share is estimated at US$2.8 billion. A skilled workforce of 110,000
English-speaking IT professionals is present in the economy, of which 24,000
are engaged in exports. There are nearly 1500 companies whereas seven
multinational companies have 'Development Centers' in Pakistan. Software
developments range from Mobile, Gaming & Animation Industry to financial
software industries especially in financial services technology industry. [27]Increasing
number of foreign IT companies have chosen Pakistan for their outsourcing
operations due to, amongst others, incentives of 100% ownership of equity,
Income Tax exemption till 2016, 100% repatriation of profits, Seven years' tax
holiday for venture capital funds etc. It is, however, ironic that sector eligibility
under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) policy approved by the Economic
Coordination Committee Pakistan does not provide for partnership in the IT
sector. [28]
The Board of Investment website reports that in its annual ‘Doing Business’
report the World Bank recognized Pakistan as 107th in rank in ‘Ease
of Doing Business’ classification and 98th in ‘starting a business’
classification of the world countries. [29]
P@SHA, the Pakistan Software Houses
Association puts the estimated size of IT Industry in Pakistan at US$2 billion
with the largest members grossing 15-25 million
dollars in revenues, and receiving 100 million dollar valuations. Software and
services sector has seen a growth of 39% with around half of this growth is
coming from foreign, software and high end services projects. The growth of
employment of professionals in 41 % and PASHA’s current membership exceeds 370.
The critical question raised by PASHA is that with the probable growth this
year between 28 - 50%, would there will be enough skilled HR to staff demand
and office space available next year.[30]Women represent 14%
of the IT workforce and 13% of IT managers, numbers which coincide with the
national average women labor force. Companies in the Education, Internet
Services and Oil & Gas (Energy) industries seem most conducive to female IT
employees. Maria Umar, Chairperson of Women Digital League, a virtual firm
which provides digital services to non-formal businesswomen so that a vast
women force which is otherwise dormant is mobilized states that women are
discouraged from working outside or face problems in finding work
opportunities. With women in Pakistan making 50% of the population and 59% of
them between the age of 18 and 27 are educated this is one sizable chunk of
work-force we are not paying attention to. [31]
According
to HEC data around 125 Universities are producing 500,000 graduates per year[32] while around 5000 IT
Graduates come out per year from the around 50 public and private sector
Universities teaching IT. Total IT professionals in Pakistan are estimated at
around 75000 out of which 3000 are employed in ‘government and defence’, 50,000
in SECP registered companies, 2000 in Banks and DFIs, 3000 in Universities,
12000 in IT Industry and 5000 in schools and colleges. [33]With the demand in
the IT sector for 36,000 workers in 2014 and increasing to 39,000 in 2015 [34] the education system is
running in deficit. The most important phenomenon is the flight of mid level IT
experts abroad and the lack of investment in hardware development in Pakistan.
Available
firm-level evidence indicates that the use of ICTs by businesses has a positive
effect on labour productivity also in low-income countries.[35]
The Government – Academia – Industry triangle
India’s success in IT, science, engineering and biotechnology
apart from its agricultural commodities is due to cohort action of its
industrialists with academicians as well as the governmental legislations as
the driving force and its good academia-industry linkage. It produces graduates
skilled for industry and works on projects to solve for industrial problems,
provides consultancy to industry and gets sponsors from the industry for its
high-tech research. Thailand’s biotechnology based revival of shrimp and sugar
industry are leading examples of academia-industry linkage. China, among other
Asian counterparts, not only holds strong belief on academia industry linkage
strategy but is leading in this strategic game. Malaysia and Singapore have also
realized the importance of academia-industry linkages and implemented them in
their niche products like electronics, engineering and petrochemicals.
Governmental policies to develop an effective linkage across
various institutes/industries in Pakistan are lacking. Political contemplation
for academia-industry linkage is of major concern, besides realization of its
importance to industrialists and academicians. [36]
One of the areas considered strength of Pakistan’s economy but
effected due to absence of this coordination is Agriculture. ICT can empower
farmers, rationalise supply chains, improve productivity, facilitate research
and development and promote information sharing on agricultural farm extension
technologies, market prices, weather information etc, all of which can enhance
food security. India’s network of internet-connected kiosks, known as e-Choupals, serves the soybean, cotton,
tobacco, and shrimp farmers in its procurement network enabling farmers to get
up-to-date weather reports, local and international produce prices and also to
buy agricultural inputs and consumer goods for daily use.[37]
Vision
Globally competitive Pakistan through Human Resource Development
in Information Technology
Mission
Develop an efficient, capable and effective HR capable of
meeting the challenges of IT in all sectors, nationally and internationally and
promote productive government – academia – industry linkages
Goals
1.
Integration between the Government,
Academia and Industry for HR development on need assessment basis
2.
Creation of an IT culture through
universalization of quality IT education and its incorporation in the public
and private sector
3.
Enhance IT enabled services for
employment generation by raising the level of output and growth through IT
based human capital accumulation
Strategy
Over-arching
- Short Term
1. Establishment of a Government
– Academia – Industry Council comprising actual practitioners from all
sectors to frame a linkage program between enterprise and universities, and
encouraging higher education institutions to form independent linkages with
private enterprises (Within the available financial resources –
by MoIT);
2. Establishment of a “National
Innovation System” to facilitate high-tech research under which
patenting and licensing regulation will be devised (Within the available financial
resources – by MoIT);
3. Permanent placement
of HRD in IT as agenda item of Council of Common Interests and National
Economic Council for optimum coordination between the federal government and
the provinces and sharing of best practices amongst the provinces (No
financial implications – by Federal Government);
4. Carry
out ‘appetite’ assessment of international and national market for IT HRD for
deployment in Industry, Services sector, export as HR asset and value chain
addition (Financed through public
private partnership -Trade and
Commerce Ministry, Chambers of Commerce, IT Boards, Software development houses
and foreign missions of Pakistan abroad).
Over-arching - Long term
1. Allocation of funds
through the Government – Academia – Industry Council to areas of research of
priority and policies for the public research institutes to ensure the
development of commercially viable product (prioritization within the
existing educational and R&D budget within the federal and provincial
governments and public private partnership – MoIT) ;
2. In order to alley the
concern of Industry sector against probable diffusion of advantage with sharing
of research, a “National Innovation System” will devise, and regularly update, a
specialized patenting and licensing regulation to facilitate high-tech
research. Patenting policies and product licensing play a very important role
in technology transfer from universities to industries keeping intact the
Intellectual Property Rights for both the partners and promote
academia-industry collaborations (Only administrative implications – by MoIT);
3. Establishment of
Technology Incubation Centers and Parks within the universities to translate
the ideas into marketable product and promote the collaboration of industries
and Academia. Since these centers provide an important hub for consultancy and
knowledge sharing to industrialists, Government to speed up the process of
establishing these centers and invest money on priority basis. A perfect
example is the Arfa Kareem Software Technology Park in Lahore which provides
academic and research environment with government presence under one roof (from
existing allocation by the Federal and Provincial Governments for this purpose
and public private partnership – by MoIT, IT Departments of Provinces, IT
Boards and private sector);
4. Strengthen the
industry and encourage it to establish in-house R&D units where professors
and scholars engage in research activities. Model industries can be established
with strong academia-industry linkage (public private partnership where government
acts as catalyst and coordinator – by the Council)
5.
‘Industry-occupation matrix’, to be carried out every five years to provide
direction to capacity builders of IT for development of human capital where
required (Financed through public
private partnership -Trade and
Commerce Ministry, Chambers of Commerce, IT Boards, Software development houses
and foreign missions of Pakistan abroad).
IT Education - Short term
1.
Declare IT
Education compulsory from the Elementary School till Higher Education level to
create a ‘tech savvy’ generation. Its actual implementation would be phased out
in 15 years (Financial implications
limited as all provinces already have running programs to provide IT labs and
training in each school and college through own resources and donors
intervention – by Federal Government – for Islamabad and FATA, and provincial
governments for their jurisdiction);
2.
Policy for
implementation of IT education in three stratas – basic education at the school
and college level as well as blue collared labour, advanced software and
hardware packages at the higher education level with elevated expertize for IT
professionals and a customized and specialized training (by the Industry
itself) for highly complex defence, energy, atomic and petroleum etc industry
including post doctorate education (Less
financial more administrative implications in the short term – by Government,
academia and industry);
3.
Boosting
awareness of IT Careers through ‘career councilors’ at College and Higher
Education level to provide guidance to students with regard to orientation of
their future career enabling them to become productive HR. The Councilors will
also ensure that the future proposed training for a student will be skill based
to enable her or him to utilize maximum potential (minor financial implications as existing faculty will be detailed with
short capacity building – by public and private sector education institutions
and their regulatory authorities);
4.
Purposeful activation
of the National Accreditation Council on IT education and expansion of its
scope to all provinces, other areas as well as all forms of IT education in
public as well as private sector (Proper
structuring and activation of the Council already provided for in the 2000
policy through administrative support – MoIT, HEC);
5.
Introduction
of subsidized IT education through scholarships and internships to provide an
equity and merit based opportunity to every student to excel irrespective of
financial and economic background (prioritization
of existing financial implications in the public sector programs as well as
corporate sector responsibility by the private sector institutions – by MoIT,
HEC, provincial Departments and private sector);
6.
Introduction
of laptops at the higher education and tablets at Elementary School and college
level containing soft copies of course books and reference material – link this
with digital libraries in rural schools based on solar power backed Computers.
Strengthen the initiative of outreach in rural areas through development of
high-quality interactive teaching material (Financial viability through already running programs of the provincial
governments – by MoIT and Provincial IT Departments and through utilization of
Universal Service Fund);
7.
Enhancement of
pedagogy skills in IT faculty at all levels to enhance their capacity, level of
skills and improve teaching methodology (financed
from the existing training programs through re-orientation alone – by MoIT,
Education Departments of the Provinces and HEC).
IT Education - Long term
1. Phase wise (15 years) implementation of compulsory
IT Education from the Elementary School till Higher Education level (Financial implications limited as all
provinces already have running programs to provide IT labs and training in each
school and college through own resources and donors intervention – by Federal
Government – for Islamabad and FATA, and provincial governments for their
jurisdiction);
2. Impart IT education in three stratas – basic
education at the school and college level as well as blue collared labour,
advanced software and hardware packages at the higher education level with
elevated expertize for IT professionals and a customized and specialized
training (by the Industry itself) for highly complex defence, energy, atomic
and petroleum etc industry including post doctorate education (administrative and moduler re-oriendation of
the existing programs – by MoIT, provincial governments and HEC in
collaboration with the private sector);
3. Development of a uniform curriculum based on market
need assessment and its regular up-dation based on the feedback of the
industry, trainees and the market including the export market for HR in IT (minor financial implications as the market
need assessment is already covered under separate proposal – by MoIT and HEC in
collaboration with the provincial governments and the private sector
educational institutions);
4. Increase in the capacity of higher education
institutions to absorb more students in IT related subjects including the
increase in the number of IT Universities (allocation of budget for the remaining 3 Universities in the public
sector as envisaged in the IT Policy of 2000 – by Federal Government –
High Risk);
5. Introduction of soft student loans for distance learning
programs such as Masters in IT etc from expensive local and foreign
Universities to be re-paid after employment (allocation of resources from youth programs, corporate sector
responsibility initiatives and Banks where government becomes the guarantor –
by MoIT, private sector, donors and HEC);
6. Introduction of Special Incentives Package for select
IT academicians to regress their exodus to Industry due to the pay difference (allocation of additional funds to Higher
Education Institutions – by Federal Government – High Risk);
IT Industry - Short Term
1. Inclusion of IT in the sectors of Public Private
Partnership in the Pakistan PPP Policy approved by the ECC (No financial Implications – by Federal
Government);
2. Ensure investment both in IT Services and IT Enabled
Services which are human intensive services for employment generation – These
include Agriculture, medical transcription, tele-medicine, database processing,
digital content development and animation, back office operations, financial
services and call centres etc;
3. Development of an IT Training Industry through
liberalization of education sector with suitable safeguards through the
Accreditation Council (administrative
implications – by MoIT, HEC and provincial governments) ;
4. Train blue and white collar IT labour and experts
for industries based on technology, agriculture and the services sector with
special emphasis on women capacity building, especially in rural areas (by re-orientation and coordination of
existing programs and strengthening of fibre optics and internet coverage in
rural areas – by MoIT, Provincial Government and, NGOs);
5. Grant incentives and subsidies to Software industry
in shape of office space, power, incubation opportunities etc (allocations in the existing programs of
provinces – MoIT and Provincial Governments);
6. Ensure ‘Single Window Operation’ for investors in IT
through a time and cost efficient clearance and approval setup (administrative measures – Federal and
Provincial Governments);
7. Establish a ‘Venture Fund’ for IT firms especially
those owned by females or disabled and / or employing females and disabled in
majority. The Venture Fund to also be utilized to support ventures which
provide employment to 25 plus IT workers (special package under gender mainstreaming – by contribution through
basket funding from MoIT, UN and donor organizations, provincial governments,
NGOs and private sector especially Women Bank and Women Chamber of Commerces);
IT Industry - Long term
1. Ensure investment both in IT Services and IT Enabled
Services which are human intensive services for employment generation – These
include Agriculture, medical transcription, tele-medicine, database processing,
digital content development and animation, back office operations, financial
services and call centres etc. ;
2. Train blue and white collar IT labour and experts
for industries based on technology, agriculture and the services sector with
special emphasis on women capacity building, especially in rural areas (by re-orientation and coordination of
existing programs and strengthening of fibre optics and internet coverage in
rural areas – by MoIT, Provincial Government and, NGOs);
3. Patronize and support the IT software industry
through further incentives and introduce manufacturing in IT hardware industry
including laptops and tablets competitive with the Chinese to create inland
market for Pakistani origin Electronic Hardware Manufacturing Units (extension of tax rebate beyond 2016 and
purchase of local made IT equipment at the rudimentary level by the public
sector – MoIT, Federal Government and the Provincial Government);
e-Governance based on IT HR - Short term
1.
Business
Processes Re-engineering in public sector organizations based on a culture of
IT to improve meaningful public responsiveness and internal efficiency (Administrative re-alignment – MoIT, federal
and provincial public sector organizations);
2.
Compulsory IT
qualification/proficiency for employment in Government and improvement of IT
proficiency in existing employees through regular capacity building for
enhancement of existing skills as well as inculcation of new ones Administrative re-alignment – MoIT, federal
and provincial public sector organizations;
3. Compulsory IT modules in all mandatory trainings for
promotion (Administrative re-alignment
– MoIT, federal and provincial public sector organizations);
e-Governance based on IT HR - Long Term
1.
Business
Processes Re-engineering in public sector organizations based on a culture of
IT to improve meaningful public responsiveness and internal efficiency Administrative re-alignment – MoIT, federal
and provincial public sector organizations;
2.
Compulsory IT
qualification/proficiency for employment in Government and improvement of IT
proficiency in existing employees through regular capacity building for
enhancement of existing skills as well as inculcation of new ones (Administrative re-alignment – MoIT, federal
and provincial public sector organizations.
Key
Performance Indicators
|
||
Performance Indicators
|
Current Position
|
Target
|
Establishment of Government – Academia – Industry Council (Yes/No)
|
No
|
Yes
|
Establishment of National Innovation System (Yes/No)
|
No
|
Yes
|
Permanent placement of IT as agenda item for CCI and NEC (Yes/No)
|
No
|
Yes
|
Assessment of Industry-occupation matrix (no of enterprises per year)
|
0
|
3000
|
Establishment of Technology
Incubators (number)
|
1
|
5
|
Establishment of IT Parks (number)
|
9
|
15
|
Declaration of IT Education as Compulsory (Yes/No)
|
No
|
Yes
|
Provision of Laptops to students (number)
|
220,000
|
500,000
|
Provision of tablets to students (number)
|
0
|
1,900,000
|
Phase wise implementation of compulsory IT education (level / years)
|
0
|
Elementary - 15
College - 7
Higher Education – 3
|
Capacity of Higher Education institutes of IT Graduates (graduates per
year)
|
5000
|
10,000
|
Establishment of IT Universities (number)
|
5
|
7
|
Soft loans for rural students for MIT (number of students per year)
|
0
|
15
|
Special package for IT academia (%age)
|
100
|
300
|
Tax rebate for IT (year in AD)
|
2016
|
2021
|
Single window operation for investors (Yes/No)
|
No
|
Yes
|
Venture fund for women IT entrepreneurs (Yes/No)
|
No
|
Yes
|
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