Dagenda of Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif deserves careful examination.

Since taking office in Feb 2024, her government has assembled an unusually dense portfolio of AI, digital skills and technology initiatives. The most recent arrived just days ago, timed almost precisely to the peak of the global AI conversation. In April 2026, Punjab government announced a landmark arrangement with Google under which more than 100,000 students will receive free certification courses in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and business intelligence. These are credentials that ordinarily cost between $400 and $1,000, placing them beyond the reach of most Pakistani graduates. With the government absorbing the entire fee burden, the deal positions Punjab to produce a pipeline of Google-certified professionals at a moment when such qualifications have become a hard currency of global employability.

That announcement did not emerge from nothing. Shortly after taking office, her government launched the Global IT Certifications Programme through the Punjab Information Technology Board, targeting 10,000 unemployed........

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