There has been a lot of public debate about the general deteriorating quality of education, gaps between public and private schooling and myriad ways to improve the overall learning outcomes.
In many assessment reports and analyses, it is devised that public schools learn from, or collaborate with, the private schools. Specifically in order to improve the quality of class room experience and retention rate of the students, it is assumed that public schools can employ the interactive teaching techniques used by the private schools. In this vein it is recommended, in part, that the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) used by the high-cost private schools should be used by the government schools as well.
The goal is to improve the learning outcomes by using interactive teaching techniques. However, the abysmal state of a large number of the out-of-school children is a major hurdle. For instance, as per the fact sheet 2014-15 compiled by Alif Ailaan, a local alliance for education reform, there are 50.8 million children in Pakistan between the ages of 5 and 16 of which 24.0 million i.e. 47% are out of school. And more than half of the country’s out-of-school children live in Punjab.
About e.Learn Initiative
The e.Learn Initiative is spearheaded by Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB). It envisions training teachers to use engaging video content, simulations and classroom activities with the aim to improve learning and teaching outcomes. Currently in its initial phase, the initiative targets Class-XVIII students in 30 government schools in three cities of Punjab province-Multan, Rawalpindi and Lahore.
Under the e.Learn Initiative, classrooms are equipped with television sets and teachers are given tablets with instructional content and a learning management system for each class.
Besides this, now backup electricity mechanism is also being provided to the schools so that load shedding should not hinder the interactive learning process.
Sourced from the Nation
