Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood Monday said that digital skills are on the priority of the government as they enable learning on a larger and more effective scale. "We will be able to bridge the digital literacy divide in Pakistan with programmes like the Jazz Smart Schools," Mahmood said while addressing a ceremony to celebrate the success of 'Jazz Smart Schools programme', which was launched in October 2017.
VEON's CEO and Chairman Ursula Burns and Huawei's CEO Saif Chi were also present on the occasion to commend the team behind the programme and encourage its adoption in all middle schools of Islamabad.
The minister further said that literacy rate in the country is 58 percent and the government is making all-out efforts to take technology to every corner of the country for improvement in education. "If education and technology go hand in hand, anything could be changed," said the minister, adding that private sector is playing a vital role in the country's education sector. He further said that without technology, moving forward is difficult, adding smart phones could also play crucial role in increasing literacy rate in the country.
The ceremony was also a way to recognise top performers from amongst the programme. Hundred students received tablets and certificates by Ursula Burns and Shafqat Mahmood for their exceptional performance during mid-term examinations. In Pakistan, where 38 percent school going students hardly know how to string a sentence in any language or do basic math, the programme has successfully taught over 28,000 middle school girls blended learning in 75 public schools of Islamabad. Also over 800 female teachers have been trained to use tech to teach using smart learning solutions based on existing curriculum. Since the start of the programme, both the assessments of students and the training capacity of teachers have improved considerably.
Launched as a two-year pilot project with Knowledge Platform, the Jazz Smart Schools programme has recorded significant improvement in five areas: student learning outcomes; teaching quality; student engagement, expanded use of technology, and improved accountability and monitoring of results.
"The results clearly confirm how Jazz and Pakistan Federal Directorate of Education are committed to the digital transformation of Pakistan's youth. Digital education is the future and I'm very pleased to see that the students at Jazz Smart Schools have taken to it like any other child in the Silicon Valley," said Ursula Burns. "
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