Laptop is not a leisure but a necessity item these days. Ahsan Iqbal

ISLAMABAD ( BMZ REPORT )

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), largest ICT services provider of the country, today launched an online education program ‘Illuminating Learning Movement (ILM)’ aimed at providing customized and interactive e-learning solutions to underprivileged students.

The program is being launched in collaboration with Click2Learn, which is a comprehensive adaptive online education platform. The initiative, in the preliminary phase, shall enable 5000 talented and underprivileged students to access and benefit from this customized platform of Click2Learn.

This initiative by PTCL is in alignment with the Prime Ministers’ Youth Development Program, enabling youth and marginalized communities to get e-learning education opportunities, resulting in employment and economic empowerment.

Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Reform, was the Chief Guest on the launching ceremony. Walid Irshaid, President & CEO PTCL, Muhammad Akram, Chief Executive Officer, Click2Learn along with management and employees of PTCL also attended the ceremony. Renowned writer and poet Amjad Islam Amjad and social activist Sohail Zimdani also attended the event and expressed their views on the significance of corporate values and its linkage with organizational success and economic prosperity.

Prof. Ahsan Iqbal while speaking on the occasion lauded PTCL for their efforts in contemplating social responsibility, adding that this program shall contribute immensely towards promoting e-learning in Pakistan. ICT innovations offer great opportunities for the talented youth to transform Pakistan into an information and digital super power and create a society with equal opportunities for everyone”.

Elaborating further Ahsan Iqbal was of the view that Vision 2025, set to launch on August 11, will provide a road map for Pakistan to strive forward and meet the challenges of future with immense strength.

Minister Ahsan Iqbal, while addressing the audience, said that the world has witnessed a knowledge revolution in which models and paradigm of learning has changed. He said, “Learning was based on pen learning at one time. It is now redundant. Today is the age of computer literacy.” He said that government is working to enable all the members of society to benefit from this change and for that very purpose, the government has distributed laptops. He commented, “We distributed laptops on merit. Laptop is not a leisure but a necessity item these days. I never realized what the eventual benefit of laptops would be until I hosted young IT entrepreneurs. 75 percent of the entrepreneurs were those who were beneficiaries of the laptop scheme earning good amount.”

Walid Irshaid, President & CEO PTCL while speaking on the occasion said, “Development of youth is the single most contributing factor towards national prosperity and growth of the country. We at PTCL strongly believe in playing our active role in contributing towards the society and this cause. Providing learning opportunities to talented youth shall enable them to enhance their development and skill base for future endeavors”.