Initiative to transform educational ecosystem

Islamabad : The Google for Education's team along with Tech Valley Pakistan visited the Federal Ministry of Education and Professional Training to understand the current challenges of the education sector of Pakistan and discuss the execution plan for Pakistan’s first Educational Innovation Centre of Excellence in Pakistan (EICE).

The EICE is a part of a larger digital education transformation journey that has been previously launched in nine countries. According to its members, the experience, research, output, and challenges accumulated from different countries will be duplicated in Pakistan with the help of the local country partner of Google for Education, Tech Valley Pakistan.

The programme will contribute to promoting skill sets for teachers and students with respect to the digital transformation of the education sector. Education secretary Aamir Ashraf Khawaja appreciated the EICE provision in Pakistan and said it could transform the educational ecosystem of Pakistan by empowering teachers with professional development and equipping schools with technology. Chris Malone, an education specialist at Google for Education, said a school in Islamabad would be transformed with the help of Google for Education tools and Chromebooks.

He said Pakistan had a huge potential for digital transformation in the educational ecosystem. Detailed research will be conducted in this centre with the help of an academic partner where researchers will test different practices to develop localised content and promote technology adoption at both teacher and student levels. Such centres were previously launched in Indonesia, Japan, Korea and Vietnam for successful digital transformation and professional development of teachers, students and administrators involved in education.

Umar Farooq, CEO of Tech Valley said, “With our vision and mission to bring the technological revolution to the educational ecosystem, we are happy to share that the EICE will incorporate 21st-century tools, like Chromebooks and Google for Education, with a localised content and context."

He said the technology could help flood-affected areas with pilot initiatives like School on Wheels, which could be used later for out-of-school children.