LAHORE: PSDF, the largest skills development fund in Pakistan (funded by FCDO and the Government of Punjab), has partnered with Coursera, one of the world’s leading online learning platforms, to offer globally recognized courses, free of cost for our youth. The partnership was announced during Coursera CEO’s Global Keynote at the Coursera virtual conference.

While online learning is a relatively new phenomenon in Pakistan, amidst the current Covid-19 pandemic, interest and necessity have jointly dictated the shift to online learning particularly for school, colleges and universities. Internet penetration, growing cellular subscribers have facilitated the uptake of online learning, providing access to the world’s best education, and promoting inclusion in learning.

The courses currently offered through PSDF, are 4-months long, and are in the fields of Digital Marketing (for learning SEO, Social Media Marketing and Marketing Analytics), IT (ranging from APP development to coding languages of JAVA & PYTHON), to Finance (Financial Accounting Fundamentals). Through PSDF, these courses will be offered free of cost to the youth that need them the most, with PSDF further incentivizing upskilling with a stipend of Rs 6,000 to be received upon completion of the course.

Speaking on occasion of the launch of the partnership, CEO PSDF, Jawad Khan expressed the importance of online learning for youth to gain marketable skills for the 21st century.—PR

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020