By Adnan Rafique
ISLAMABAD: Microsoft Pakistan organized EDU Day 2022, a global initiative that is taken to attain its goal of seamless knowledge transfer through digitalizing the education system and transforming the learning practices of institutions across Pakistan.
The event was held virtually and attended by thousands of Educationists, school leaders, teachers, and government officials in both the Public and Private landscape, said a news release.
Microsoft has already entered into Education Transformation Agreements (ETA) with various academic institutions and Education departments across Pakistan including colleges and universities under the Higher Education Commission (HEC).
The collaboration will prove to be beneficial for Government officials in the Education Department, school leaders, and teachers striving to balance their short-term decisions with long-term investments in students’ future through technology.
The core objective of this particular digital event was to showcase the country’s top educational institutions that are diligently learning and implementing Microsoft technologies. Also, how Microsoft is supporting the institutions in leveraging Microsoft’s customized products and services to digitize their core functions.
In particular, Microsoft classroom features such as “Microsoft teams” that can help students, teachers, and staff to collaborate digitally for conversation, content sharing, and creating a robust environment of learning. The benefits of other useful tools such as OneNote, Minecraft for Education were also brought under discussion.
The event successfully also brought under discussion ways to engage students in a hybrid model environment, access to appropriate devices and learning platforms, technology integration and student well-being, and the impact of continuous professional learning on educators.
The event was attended by a number of renowned Educationists and leaders of education across Pakistan including Education Minister Punjab Dr. Murad Raas, Microsoft Country Education Lead Jibran Jamshad, DG QAED Mr. Muhammad Ali Ammer, CIO HEC Nazeer Hussain, and CEO Roots Millennium education Faisal Mushtaq.
Education Minister Punjab Dr. Murad Raas, on the occasion, said that “Bringing the Teachers training in Punjab through QAED on Microsoft 365 enabled the government to train over 300,000 plus of teachers at a time when due to Covid things were at a halt.
“We are continuing the same platform even now which has not only bridged gaps for people in distant areas to benefit from the digital platform but also saved us considerable costs that are incurred hosting on-location training”, he added.
Shahpara Rizvi, Director Training, Sindh Education Foundation, Ayesha Karim, Chief, Research Innovation and IT, QAED, Ms. Sonia Saleem, CEO, Socio Engineering Technologies and Mr . Muzzamil Hussain, DevOps/IOT/R&D Lead, Punjab Group of Colleges joined the event as panelists and shared their valued opinion on how Microsoft has positively transformed their digital journey in their respective organizations
Senior Regional Team of Microsoft including Ibrahim Youssry Regional General Manager – MEA MCC, Majed Akl, Director K12 Education, Microsoft MEA, Jaye Richards, Director Learning, Microsoft MEA, and Country Manager Pakistan; Shahzad Khan also shared the latest perspective and trends in Microsoft to empower teachers and students across the globe.
