If you stay informed of the latest happenings in IT in Pakistan, then you must remember that little girl Afrah Shafquat, who became the youngest Sun-certified Java Programmer in the world at the tender age of 11 years in 2002. I remember seeing her at PDC 2005, the last one I attended and couldn't help but notice how small she was for doing computer programming, let alone completing certifications! Well, she's continued to make great strides culminating in the form of an MIT scholarship that she's just won. Congratulations to her and her family who must be very proud!
You can read the article on ArabNews website here:
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=11§ion=0&article=108734&d=8&m=4&y=2008
Previously, her elder sister Afsah had also won a scholarship from MIT last year. More on that on the same website:
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=11§ion=0&article=76009&d=8&m=8&y=2006
It is so refreshing to see something positive being reported about Pakistan for a change. With all the doom and gloom that's been surrounding the country of late, this couldn't have come at a better time.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Girl Power Surge in Pakistan
4 comments:
Just don't tell my mother about this, okay?
lols @sawj i guess she might hear about it sooner or later :P
and i guess the much it depends on an individual, the more it depends on the parents as well, that watever they find good in their children they should make all such things possible for them. It wouldnt have been possible for Afrah if her dad didnt let her buy all those expensive books that are a part of a University students course. But now parents have realised this thing and they grab their childrens' interest at a very young age, but still there is a drawback of not liking Arts in the Parents, they dont allow their children mostly boys to go ahead and pursue the field of Arts.
@SAWJ
Heh, I won't. But Nikki's right. Its only a matter of time before she find out about it.
@Nikki
You're right about the field choosing thing. We don't have much diversity in terms of profession. Some would say there are not enough art schools and stuff. Hardly anyone ever seriously pursues a career in Arts in Pakistan. It's sad because we need development in all sorts of industry and not just Computer & IT for e.g.
@ razz
Yes we need development in every field but we unlike IT there is not much guidance or infrastructure available for other businesses.
So even we try this hard, its nearly impossible to get equally fruitful results.
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