An international Google delegation of Google Cloud, Google for Education, and Google Workspace teams based from Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, and Australia visited Pakistan last week upon the invitation of its country partner, Tech Valley Pakistan. The aim of the visit was to explore the potential of the education and public sectors of Pakistan so that they can be transformed using Google’s latest tools and technologies. The one-week visit started off with on-ground meetings in Lahore, where the delegation met different private sector schools and colleges to assess their current capabilities and future plans for adopting technology to make the learning process more effective. The delegation also met with the Punjab IT Board to assess the IT landscape of Punjab and how interventions can take place to facilitate schools, colleges, and startups.
The delegation, along with its country partner, Tech Valley, also visited the Ministry of Federal Education and attended an LOU signing ceremony between Tech Valley and the Ministry that aims to utilize Google tools and technologies to work for out-of-school children, who have a devastating high number of more than 22.4 million. Under the LOU, parties will work to provide chromebooks for government schools and conduct teachers’ training to equip them with the right tools. The delegation also visited the Ministry of IT & Telecom and discussed the upcoming Cloud Policy and introducing the latest Google Certification courses in Pakistan.
The delegation also called upon the Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly Pervaiz Ashraf, and briefed him regarding their current initiative of digitizing processes and communications with the Digital Innovation Hub at the National Assembly. The delegation also visited the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) to explore synergies in upcoming research projects and launch Google Analytics and Digital Marketing courses for professionals and students.
Country Partner Tech Valley Pakistan also took the delegation to meet Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shahzad Khan Bangash and briefed him with Google for Education’s current initiative in Pakistan. They also visited Provincial Minister for ST&IT, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and MD KPITB on their visit to Peshawar. Parties discussed how Google can intervene to transform the government and public sector at provincial level with the latest Google Digital Products and Services.
During the visit to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Elementary and Secondary Education and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Higher Education Department, the delegation explored collaborative opportunities to enhance e-learning and introduce digitized management systems in schools and colleges at the provincial level. Ending their tour with the city of lights of Pakistan, Karachi, the delegation visited Chief Secretary Sindh and met with Secretary IT Sindh and Secretary Education Sindh in Karachi. The parties discussed areas of mutual collaboration and are looking forward to working together in the near future.