MoST to
set up Institute of IT in Northern areas
To provide IT education
facilities to Northern areas of Pakistan Ministry of Science &
Technology is supporting setting up of Institute of Information
Technology for men at Federal Government Post-Graduate College for Men
Gilgit and Federal Government Degree College for Men Skardu.
An amount of Rs.35
million has been allocated by IT & Telecom Division for this project
which will be completed in a period of 12 months.
The proposed courses are
2 years Degree Course and 2-years Masters Course. In addition there
shall be 1-year Diploma Course. 40 students each year for BCS and 30
students each year each college for MCS degree will be enrolled.
The project is
coordinated with the over all programs of the country to develop
adequate and properly trained I.T. manpower to meet the requirement
within and outside the country. Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman strongly believes
that countries are not built by building dams, roads and other
infrastructure but by building the minds of people and minds are built
through a challenging educational system. Human Resource Development
therefore, is the cornerstone of Information Technology Policy. It is
with this background that IT & Telecom Division has embarked upon a
program to strengthen the existing IT departments in various colleges
and universities. New departments are also being set up wherever
required. The best thing about this program is that government has not
confined its efforts to major cities of the country. Equal attention is
being paid to provide IT education to the students of far-flung and less
developed areas of the country.
The total population of
Northern Areas which is more than one million will benefit from this
project. Normally their age group is about 18-24 years.
At present there is no
such institution in the public sector available in the Northern Areas to
offer degree courses in the field of Information Technology. The
building to house the proposed center, rooms for labs and offices are
available in the two colleges. F.G. Post-Graduate College for Men Gilgit
and F.G. Degree College for Men Skardu are providing quality education
at degree level for the last 30 years. New disciplines such as
Information Technology will be added/introduced for which there is a job
market.
Out of the amount
allocated for the project Rs.8 million will be spend on hiring faculty
and supporting staff while Rs.17 million will be spend on purchase of
equipment. Rs.4 million will be spend on library facilities including
text and reference books.
