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Microsoft signs agreement with Sindh govt. for digitalization of the education sector

Microsoft signs an agreement with the Sindh government called the ‘Educational Transformation Agreement’ (ETA). The agreement that is signed with two prime departments of the Sindh government, The Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) and the School Education and Literacy Department (SELD), is meant to bring innovative digital advances in the field of education. 

Microsoft signed this agreement under its Microsoft Educational Transformation Framework (ETF) which is directed at working for systematic digital transformations in the education sector. The purpose of this agreement is also to introduce Information Communication Technologies (ICT) at all the stages of education for the betterment and advancement of the Sindh education sector. Not just that, Microsoft also agreed to conduct training workshops and sessions, webinars, and other activities to make the use of technology easy and understandable. The specialists will also train the government for designing and implementing cloud solutions through its cloud certification programs. Certified master trainers will be produced who will further educate and train on the behalf of Microsoft. 

First of all, the Microsoft team will work with the Sindh leadership to discuss and develop digital transformation strategies for which certain workshops and training sessions will also be conducted. 

The Country Education Lead at Microsoft Corporation, Mr. Jibran Jamshad said that this agreement will serve as a roadmap for both parties to bridge the gap between education and employability through ICT. He further said that they are bringing together different educational institutions because all of them need huge changes to be improved when it comes to digitalization. He added that they are working with many public and private sector institutions to develop advanced educational products and services.  

On the occasion, the Secretary of School Education and Literacy Department (SELD), Mr. Ghulam Akbar Laghari also expressed his views by saying that they are proud of this partnership with Microsoft that will work to digitalize the Education system in Sindh. ‘We have developed SELD learning hub App and digital classrooms, under this partnership, to fulfill the educational needs of students in current situations of emergency,’ he said adding, ‘we are formally organizing these digital learning platforms to avoid any gap in children learning all across the province. We also envision that this partnership has a long way to go in ensuring rapid innovation in classrooms and inspiring students for greater goals.’ 

This cooperation is supposed to benefit the Sindh education sector in many possible ways. In the future, it will make accessibility to devices easy and affordable. Also, it will work to provide professional development opportunities, free learning materials, and internet facilities in different areas of Sindh. This way, Microsoft will help in creating an active digital environment in the province. 

Another important benefit that this agreement (ETA) will provide is to make Microsoft technologies like Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure, etc. accessible to be learned and used. Taking benefit from this, students will be able to create and share content through a wide range of recourses. Also, this will not let the situations like pandemics hamper the education of students. The education sector will be able to perform in every situation efficiently without getting affected. 

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By Arshad Yousafzai

Arshad Yousafzai is a Karachi-based journalist covering Education and Human Rights. He can be reached on Twitter @Arshadyousafzay

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