Establishment of regulatory Body on IT education under consideration

ISLAMABAD, Mar 20 (APP):The National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications was informed on Wednesday that the government was considering to establish a regulatory Body on IT education in order to create more employment opportunities for the youth.
Pakistan produces 25,000 IT graduates but only a few thousands gets job in the market, Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications, Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui informed the parliamentary Body meeting which was chaired by MNA Ali Muhammad Khan Jadoon.
The meeting was also attended by MNAs including Naz Baloch, Ali Gohar Khan, Aftab Hussain Siddique and representatives of Ministry of IT and Telecom and Special Communications Organization (SCO).
Dr. Khalid Maqbool said many countries in the region have gone far beyond in area of IT education and added it is very important to determine correct direction.
He said establishment of Cyber Security Authority was also being considered.
He further informed the Committee, “We want mobile manufacturing in Pakistan and want to make mobile phone so cheap that everybody could afford it.”
Earlier, Member Telecom of the Ministry briefed the Committee on its affairs and performance.
Members of the Committee including Naz Baloch, Aftab Hussain and Ali Gohar raised issue of fake accounts on social media.
They said many fake accounts were being run on Facebook and Twitter under their names.
The Members of the Committee said Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) needs to take strict action against those violating the law.
The meeting was further informed that Twitter and Facebook do not come under control/jurisdiction of Pakistan.
The Committee summoned officials of FIA and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in its next meeting.
The representative of Special Communications Organization also briefed the Committee on Fiber Optic Cable Plan under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and said work of laying 820 km Fibre Optic Cable has been completed
in first phase.
The meeting was informed that this was the first communication network that would have database and control in Pakistan.