Sindh govt, Tech Valley join hands to digitise schools in Karachi

• Tech Valley's CEO and secretary Sindh Education and Literacy Department signs MoU.
• Program will incorporate Google’s digital learning tools in schools to make learning more fun and interactive.
• Program includes tools like Google Classroom, where teachers can upload class resources.

KARACHI: Tech Valley Pakistan on Thursday joined hands with the Sindh Education and Literacy Department to digitise the schools in Karachi. 

Tech Valley CEO and Secretary Sindh Education and Literacy Department Ghulam Akbar Laghari signed a memorandum of understanding. 

Tech Valley, which is a country partner of Google for Education, will incorporate Google’s digital learning tools in the schools to make learning more fun and interactive. 

The program includes tools like Google Classroom, where teachers can upload class resources, update students regarding the assignments, take online quizzes and collaborate with students in real-time.

Under the MoUs, Google and Tech Valley will provide computer science courses to school students in Sindh. In the first phase, 250 students and 100 teachers will be trained in five schools in the province. Moreover. digital courses will be conducted in more schools under the Google programme CS First and Be Internet Awesome first. 

Chief Secretary Sindh Dr Muhammad Sohail Rajput said that with the help of technology, they will also work on rain and flood monitoring in the future. He further said that boot camps, soft courses, skill development and workshop on information technology will also be organised in Sindh. Rajput further said that he will work with Google and other international organisations on the skill development of the youth.

Meanwhile, the representative of Google said that Google is ready to cooperate with the government to conduct various courses under the education program in educational institutions in Pakistan.

Secretary Sindh Education and Literacy Department, Ghulam Akbar Laghari, highly encouraged the idea of adding value to the existing education system of Sindh. 

“COVID-19 taught us how important it is to implement digital technology in the education system. Now is the right time to equip our local schools as well. My team and I are excited about this pilot program and hope to expand it further," he added. 

Under this digitisation project, teachers and IT staff will also be trained on the Google for Education tools to leverage the technology to improve the teaching and learning process of the schools. The selected schools' infrastructure will also be modernised and enhanced with Chrome OS Flex, a cloud-first, fast, easy-to-manage, and secure operating system.

Tech Valley's CEO Umar Farooq said that this program will allow them to see all of the Google for Education tools and the complete digital ecosystem operating in schools of Karachi. "Through this pilot program, we will also be able to comprehend Karachi's local challenges and dynamics," he said. 

Tech Valley is a trusted partner of Google for Education, Google Workspace, and Google Cloud in Pakistan. Its mission is to inculcate a culture of technology and entrepreneurship through digital innovations.