Use of technology in schools enables special child to pursue education

ISLAMABAD: Innovation in education is not just important but essential in countries like Pakistan, where there is a huge number of out of school children, as Syed Muhammad Sudais, a homebound special child from Mardan, would not be able to pursue his further studies had Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government not been opted to use revolutionary technology in a conventional schools in the province.

The provincial government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ilm Ideas 2 for the implementation of an innovative project for the Bridging Learning Gaps in 130 Girls Community Schools. The ‘ILMunate’ project of the Tele Taleem has brought high-quality online teachers in English, Math and Science to over 130 community schools in 13 districts.

These districts included Peshawar, Mardan, Charsadda, Nowshera, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, DI Khan, Swat, Malakand, Dir, Abbottabad, Mansehra and Chitral. Pakistan is a country where education is hardly remained a priority of any government in the country and it could be judged from the fact that still there are 22.6 million out-of-school children of which as many as 44 percent children between the ages of five and 16.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Education Muhammad Atif Khan visited the home of Sudais, son of Syed Rasheed Ahmad, and enrolled him on the occasion to launch annual enrollment drive in the province, who is no part of a digital classroom in the nearest community school in Mardan.

This was made possible through the Elementary & Secondary Education Foundation’s (ESEF) in collaboration with the Tele Taleem. Sudais was homebound since three years due to partial paralysis of his body and his inability to physically attend a school. He had earlier studied up to grade 4 and his cognitive faculties were intact.

Now, Sudais studies online from subject specialists teachers in Islamabad, through the ‘ILMunate’ project, funded by a UK Aid programme. Talking to Pakistan Today, Tele Taleem ECO Asad Kareem said that the programme started for the uplift of the girls’ education in the province. By enrolling Sudais, connecting him online to a nearby community school in the Farm Koroona Dargai in Mardan gave a new twist to the idea, he said.

He said that this idea opens doors of educational enlightenment to children like Sudais who have been forced out of the education system due to physical and social challenges. To a question, he said that quality education was basic right of every child. He said that the situation was a lot of worse for children in semi-urban and rural areas and the Tele Taleem’s vision was to provide the quality of teachers and education to the children.

Through the use of internet, the children can contact subject expert teachers, Kareem said. A training expert said that on one side, they were teaching grade 4 and 5 kids in remote areas through direct Online Teaching and at the same time, they were also training the teachers in the same schools.

Tele Taleem has introduced an extremely innovative approach. What’s really encouraging is that in just 4 to 5 months of this programme there is a marked improvement in students’ excitement and engagement level. They come to school on time and study with a lot more interest, he said. Tele Talem’s vision is that to spread this technology to every school in the country, he said.