Plan afoot to transform schools

Under the Prime Minister’s Education Sector Reforms Programme watched over by the prime minister’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, the government has planned to use the modern techniques of blended learning to transform 32 countrywide schools, mostly in Islamabad.

The selected educational institutions will be made ‘smart schools’ in three years at the cost of Rs677 million, an official of the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) told ‘The News’.

The blended learning is the practice of using both online and in-person learning experiences to teach grade 3-8 schoolchildren.

According to the official, Rs 200 million has been allocated for the project in the fiscal year 2016-17.

Of the 32 proposed smart schools, 16 boys and girls each, 24 will be in the Islamabad Capital Territory and eight in the provinces.

The official said the project, a pilot for provinces to follow, would bring about a paradigm shift in the public sector education sector through the computer-based learning and thus, promoting creativity and innovation in students.  He said the teachers to be selected for the project would undergo special training.

[Source:- ITN]

Saheli