The National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) has taken a big leap towards fulfilling its corporate social responsibility (CSR).
And, towards attaining that objective, it has come up with the idea of making good use of the indigenous talent by launching, in phases, a nation-wide literacy programme by establishing computer training centres at Karachi, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar, Sargodha, Multan and Quetta. In the first phase, courses at Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad for initially 25 students per computer centre will be run, imparting four weeks' training.
A senior Nadra official told Business Recorder here on Thursday that while the concept of CSR was gaining momentum slowly and gradually in this part of the world, in Pakistan, the corporate sector had finally started realising that besides treating this country as a source of cheap and talented workforce, it has some responsibility to shoulder with indigenous people and the society at large.
National organisations and government departments are now trying to contribute towards social uplift, and Nadra is a glaring example of this phenomenon, he said.
In a very short span of time Nadra has grown into an organisation of repute with full sense of social responsibility which could be gauged through the projects being initiated by the Authority, that range from online verification, biometrics to automated border control systems.
The official said that the ghosts of unemployment, resulting into many social vices, haunt the society and this problem is compounded when the youngsters, having requisite intellect level, lack financial support and required technical background. Although Nadra employs more than 9,000 personnel related to IT field, it feels that unemployment ratio among the youth is on the increase and definite constructive measures are needed to be taken at the national level.
A unique selection procedure was employed, apart from the entry test. The application forms were designed in such a manner which reflected a complete social profile/background.
Successful candidates, in the first phase, are being imparted four weeks training on data entry operation techniques and practices, at a nominal fee of Rs 600, at the training centres in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. Not only this, the instructors selected for this course are all very well qualified in computer sciences and business administration.
In the next phase, Nadra will be setting up such training centres at Multan, Sukkur, Peshawar and Quetta. The Authority plans to establish 70 computer training centres all over the country in the next two years, he added.
He said that for the project in question, Nadra would be utilising expertise of 18 'master trainers' from its regional headquarters in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. All these trainers have been provided training under a specially designed 'trainer guidance programme' at Nadra headquarters.
The Authority has also initiated a training programme for students of two madressahs in Islamabad, for which space was provided by Madressah Tajweed Hifzul Quran. The training premises is fully equipped with all training gadgets for 16 students, of whom 12 are Huffaz-e-Quran in the age group 15 to 18 years.
The quality of Nadra's IT training could be judged by the fact that so far 63 trainees have completed the course, of which 44 have already been offered jobs by various IT organisations, and the remaining are willing to pursue further studies, the official said.