Afghan IT Training Program Expands Job Opportunities
Image by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung / CC BY
With financial support from the World Bank, the Afghanistan ICT Sector Development Project at the Rana Education Institute in Kabul offers intensive information technology (IT) training that emphasizes both theoretical and practical learning. Thousands of students apply for about 200 slots in the program, which teaches Microsoft technologies, database management, networking and data safety, system management, and software development. Students also gain familiarity with web design and site development.
The program’s training courses only recently began with one cohort done and another finishing soon. Despite the fact that the program only just began, students are eager to enroll since it teaches in a short period of time – four months – what would take several semesters in a typical university program. The first round of graduates from the program secured a number of incredible job opportunities with large, successful companies. If this trend continues, the program could contribute a great deal to the future development of Afghanistan.
Both young men and women have enrolled in and successfully completed the program to expand their job opportunities. One of the graduates is a young man with a bachelor’s degree from the Polytechnical University of Kabul. After finishing the program, he said that it better prepared him to find and secure employment over the course of four months than his undergraduate degree did.
The project, an undertaking of the Afghan government with support from the World Bank, aims to educate 1,500 young individuals to increase their future educational opportunities and help them obtain steady employment. In recent years, the Afghan government has made communications and IT training a priority with the ultimate goal being to expand Internet and telephone services in the country.
The Rana Educational Institute is not the only center offering specialized IT programs in Afghanistan. Another center that receives support from the ICT Sector Development Project is Aptech Institute, also located in Kabul. Overwhelmed by interest in the program, Aptech Institute has already trained nearly double the number of students that it had planned to.