Dera Ismail Khan: In D. I. Khan district alone, the heavy rains and flash floods damaged over 350 school buildings that disrupted educational activities in some areas of the district.
An official in the district education department reports that the recent rains and floods have destroyed or damaged around 257 male and 87 female schools in all five tehsils of the district.
To help flood-affected students return to school, the Ministry of Federal Education and KP Education Department has launched School On Wheels, a Google-funded pilot initiative to bring classroom amenities to the students of D. I. Khan, coupled with powerful devices, i.e., Chromebooks. School on Wheels aims to help students continue their education by generating interest through engaging curricula and fun activities.
Under a proof-of-concept, a single model will be deployed for three months at DI Khan with all the resources, such as the internet, generator, foldable desks, whiteboard, and LCD, to create an effective teaching and learning environment. This pilot project will serve as a roadmap for the future scale-up of such models to eradicate out-of-school children’s problems in Pakistan.
Regarding this initiative, Additional Secretary, the Ministry of Federal Education, Waseem Ajmal said, “We are thankful to Google for helping us visualize the idea and execute it with the help of multiple local and international teams. Through this pilot initiative, the Ministry of Education will explore further opportunities to scale up this idea.”
The Google for Education team also joined the launch ceremony remotely while representatives from the Ministry of Federal Education, KP Education Department, and Deputy Commissioner D. I. Khan were present on the ground.
Commissioner D. I. Khan, invited as a chief guest, said, “Through this initiative, we hope to attract students towards educational activities that can further generate their interest in exploring the digital world.”
This project is being implemented by Tech Valley, which is a Google for Education Partner in Pakistan. At the occasion, the CEO of Tech Valley, Umar Farooq, said, “With this initiative, we plan to engage and motivate students in D. I. Khan to pursue their education after being affected by flood and equip them with basic digital literacy skills so they can continue learning remotely in future too.”
Faisal Amin Gandapur, Minister of Local Government, Elections, and Rural Development said, “Education is the top priority of our government, and we appreciate the efforts of Google for Education and Tech Valley for taking this initiative.”
