18 December 2004	Saturday	05 Ziqa'ad 1425

ISLAMABAD, Dec 17: Policy-makers, educationists and IT experts are mulling a long-term strategy to enhance teaching, learning and administration through integration of technologies in education.

The Advisory Committee of the National Information and Communication Technologies (NICTs) for Education met here on Friday marking the beginning of a formal consultative process leading to the development of the strategic plan.

Organized by USAID-funded Education Sector Reform Assistance (Esra) wing in collaboration with the Education Ministry, the day-long meeting was attended by experts and specialists from the education and IT sectors as well as representatives of the federal and provincial governments and other stakeholders.

Federal Education Secretary Sajid Hassan was the chief guest on the occasion. The Chief of Party (COP) of Esra, Sarah Suzanne Olds, was also present. The impetus for the formulation of the strategy stems from the overriding need to enhance teaching, learning and education administration through ICTs.

Providing equitable access to quality education with intelligent ICT solutions, and overcoming the digital divide by improving access to ICTs are some of the allied objectives of the exercise.

The meeting was the first in a series of consultations to be convened with experts and stakeholders whose inputs will lead to the preparation of a comprehensive, evidence-based document that will frame specific schemes and guide interaction with the private sector so that education in Pakistan could benefit from the pluses of ICTs.

Speaking on the occasion, Sajid Hassan hoped that members of the advisory committee would help devise a concrete, relevant, and effective plan of action envisaging the deployment of ICTs in education, as has been done in other countries.

He said it was for this very purpose that the government approached Esra. The education secretary reminded the participants of the goals of the ICT strategy.

These were: exploring possibilities for integration of ICTs in education, identifying aspects of work that ICTs could stream line in the education system, analysing global models and lessons relevant to Pakistan, identifying matching problems with potentially useful technological solutions, determining the extent of infrastructure and human expertise available and needed and designing and testing pilot projects.

Mr Hassan asked the members of the committee to identify any added areas, goals or strategies that would facilitate the implementation of the government's avowed goal of providing quality education.

Chief of Party Sarah Suzanne Olds briefly outlined the goals of Esra. Supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Esra is a $60 million programme being operated in partnership with the government that aims to secure primary school improvement over a period of four years.

The programme, Ms Olds said, focuses on professional development, literacy, policy and planning, public-private, public-community partnership and ICT. Esra, she said, operated in the Islamabad Capital Territory as well as with the provincial governments.

Its interventions were now visible in many other areas including Hyderabad, Sukkur, Khairpur, Thatta, Gwadar, Turbat, Chaghi, Nushki, and Killa Saifullah. Ms Olds said Esra was delighted to be working with Pakistan at all levels to achieve these goals.

As many as 24 academics, educationists, and technocrats attended the meeting. Lengthy debates ensued as the participants made invaluable inputs on how best to reach the targeted children to affect the integration of ICTs in education. With opinions flowing from all directions, an attempt was made to prioritise the process of strategy development.

Presentations were made by representatives of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), Virtual University, Higher Education Commission (HEC), Federal and provincial IT departments, and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). The efforts of HEC, AIOU and VU were highlighted as successful examples of the potential integration of technology in education.