Education Ministry launches initiative of blended-e-learning

Islamabad:In line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan to use of technology in the education, Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training has launched an initiative of blended-e-learning.

An agreement for the purpose was signed between the Federal Directorate of Education, Knowledge Platform, Tele Taleem and Robotics Mea. Blended learning is an approach to education that combines online education materials and opportunities for interaction online with traditional place based classrooms methods.

In this research based pilot project different technologies will be used in different levels of education to test and understand the effectiveness of these technologies on the learning of students.

Federal Minister Shafqat Mahmood said the digital and blended learning was the future. "With schools all over the world, redesigning because of COVID-19, blends learning is becoming the new normal. The Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training as part of its response strategy to COVID-19 is piloting blended learning project to assist students and teachers in ensuring learning continuity," he said.

Highlighting the significance of the project, he said, after a third party baseline evaluation, the results of the initiative will be shared with all the federating units and this project shall be replicated on national level.

The minister said, the STEM which is also part of this initiative, is an integral part of our education policy. STEM education is one of the key parameters on which the quality of instructions between public and private schools differ. Pakistan is improving this situation by introducing intensive amendments in the national curriculum to incorporate STEM subjects in proper manner throughout a child's academic journey.

By integrating different tools i.e robotics kits, IOT kits with science and math curriculum we shall ensure to improve the quality of learning of the students for STEM education. For this purpose discovery innovation labs will also be set-up in the schools. The programme will pilot test blended-e-learning methodologies by updating 80 classrooms with technology and providing teachers training about hardware and digital contents. Execution of the project will begin from new session in the August 2021.