Technology had changed education even before Covid. In an age where one can easily look up anything on Google, no longer is rote learning considered acceptable education. Employers want employees to be digitally literate and be able to demonstrate critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication skills.

These are also the skills required for successful entrepreneurship. Any education system that wants its future graduates to be globally competitive has had to adapt.

Progressive school systems all over the world have used digital technology as the driver of this transformation in the classroom. Smart classes, multimedia-driven lesson plans and internet learning is the new normal. However, Pakistan has been struggling with this transformation.

While elite schools have embraced EdTech, the state-funded grassroots school system has stubbornly stuck to the status quo. Our students still get tested on their ability to memorise textbooks. It remains possible to graduate with honours even if there is no developed capacity to apply any of what was memorised for the exam.

In 2021, Pakistan’s economy was sized as the 20th largest in the world in purchasing power parity terms. However, its education system was ranked 154th. It is a measure of what the world thinks of our current efforts in equipping our youth to be successful, productive and useful members of our society and the global economy.

Estimates show that between 20-30 existing classrooms can be upgraded into EdTech supporting smart-classrooms for the cost of a new computer lab, which becomes redundant for digitally literate students

This judgement has to be based on the grassroots system — because it cannot be the case if we only consider its elite schools. The elite private schools produce students that are at par with global expectations. The proof is that their best regularly get into the best universities of the world and face no difficulties.

Pakistan has always had a very unequal system of education. All elite schools today use EdTech including smart classes, multimedia-driven lesson plans and internet learning. This has become their defacto environment from which to teach 21st century skills. However, this is not true for the overwhelming majority of government schools.

Digital learning is a completely different learning environment than that based around a textbook or non-digital media. It allows for a deeper level of student engagement and personalised learning. It naturally orients classroom pedagogy towards cognitivism and constructivism. It facilitates project-based, experiential and autonomous learning. It can compensate for teacher deficiencies. It allows better accountability, monitoring and evaluations in the education system.

The perceived value of digital learning is undisputed. Millions of students in Pakistan go to the internet on their own to view education content on YouTube or on tutoring portals. In a 2019 research conducted by ILM Association (that has 10,000 low fee private schools across Pakistan), 89 per cent of school administrators thought that EdTech improves the quality of teaching in the classroom.

Furthermore, when asked how they would spend a Rs500,000 subsidy, they ranked technology in the classroom as their highest spending priority, above that of infrastructure improvements, hiring of teachers or other considerations. This has major implications since equity is one of the four priority areas of the current National Educational Policy.

Employment trends increasingly discriminate against those that do not possess these 21st century skills. Digital tools and digital reporting is increasing productivity and improving efficiencies in the workplace. Workers are required to wear multiple hats and adapt to different working regimes at short notice. The insight here is that new workers who enter the workforce in 2030 and do not have these skills, will not be employable in globally competitive enterprises or be able to support any government plans to modernise its economy.

Covid and its consequence of learning outside classrooms has exacerbated this gap between the elite and grassroots system. For a nation that aspires to be an Asian Tiger, dramatic reform and investment into the transformation of its education system is the need of the hour. Settling for gradual improvements in the status quo will negatively impact multiple generations and produce a majority of its future population not sufficiently educated to meet the challenges of the future.

Pakistan must focus its limited resources to introduce EdTech for digital learning, cost-effectively, in its grass-root education system as quickly and widely as possible. As a vehicle to introduce reform, EdTech offers performance, productivity and cost advantages across the board. Estimates show that between 20-30 existing classrooms can be upgraded into EdTech supporting smart-classrooms for the cost of a new computer lab, which becomes redundant for digitally literate students.

Those that want to expand the country’s limited resources to think beyond technology may be judged by history as short-sighted.

The sustainable option is to invest in expanding the digital infrastructure as quickly as possible and the introduction of smart classrooms, multimedia-driven lesson plans and internet learning in government schools. Let education, along with other citizen services, be the driving force beyond this infrastructure expansion rather than rely on entertainment or discretionary communication alone.

Pakistan’s population is not spread out like it is the case in some African countries. The vast majority of our population is densely concentrated. It resides around the Indus and its tributaries in the north. This makes this task somewhat easier but still requires a major and sustained investment for the next decade. This won’t happen without public understanding and support.

The writer is the executive director of ILM Association. zqazilbash@yahoo.com

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, January 7th, 2022