Educational TV channels soon, says minister
ISLAMABAD- Federal Information Technology Minister Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari on March 6, 2003 said the government was developing infrastructure for satellite educational TV channels.
“The project will be completed soon and, initially, two TV channels will be available 24 hours a day for imparting education,” he said while speaking at a two-week regional course on “Developing e-technical education and vocational training” (e-TEVT) systems”.
The course has been organized by the education ministry in collaboration with the Manila-based Colombo Plan Staff College (CPSC) for Education.
Mr Leghari said the government was setting up four studios to complement the uplinks. In addition to this, a digital asset management system is being installed to convert compressed videos into an internet-based asynchronous learning programme. It will be a test bed of the Virtual University, which will serve as an important model for all levels of education – primary, secondary tertiary, as well as vocational training, he added.
“This exercise will enable us to train our teachers effectively and help standardize high-quality education,” he observed.
The internet facility, the minister said, had been provided to over 1,000 cities. Similarly, fibre optics have been laid at over 300 places in the country. Besides, the government has also launched several programmes for introduction of computers and information technology alongside professional training at schools and colleges.
Mr Leghari highlighted the role of the Virtual University, where already over 5,000 students had been enrolled, and it was expected that the number would touch the target of 100,000 in the next two years.
He said the university was currently conducting BS programme in information technology, but infrastructure was being developed for other technologies and training courses.
He said his ministry had already put up a broad band 155 Mb/s optical fibre educational backbone to connect all universities for collaborative research and sharing of teaching resources. Colleges, school and vocational training institutions will also be connected to this backbone, he added.
The minister called for harnessing the country’s manpower, by providing quality training skills, to jumpstart the development process.
The government has found the use of information technology not only as an enabler, but also as a force multiplier, making it a cornerstone of its strategy to produce quality technically- educated workforce.
“For this, we have concentrated on utilizing the internet and using the web to offer content to the end-users,” Mr Leghari said.
He said the technologies which used the internet protocol had already made the world a global village, with the e-learning and distance-learning revolutionizing the teaching and learning systems all over the world.
The minister said the Asian Development Bank had provided a grant for the technical education projects. He also lauded the role of the Colombo Plan Staff College for organizing the course, and hoped that such programmes would continue to be held in future as well.
Source: Dawn
Date:3/7/2003
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