Zong has teamed up with The Star School in Okara’s Wasawewala neighborhood to create a digital lab. The company is providing a computer lab for digital and curriculum learning at the school.
The school currently has a computer curriculum and teachers, but no computers on which to learn and master. Zong’s digital lab will close this gap, allowing young kids and teachers to access digital education and keep up with the rest of the world in terms of modern education.
An official spokesperson of Zong shared, “The digital lab in Wasawewala School is aimed at reducing the digital divide that continues to be massive especially among the underserved segments of Pakistani society. The initiative is in line with the country’s vision of Digital Pakistan of which Zong is a key enabler.”
“This is one of the many steps we have taken and plan to take in the future to digitally empower the Pakistani masses and open the doors of opportunities for them,” he added.
Gul-e-Mariam, Chairperson of The Star School, Wasawewala campus (registered elementary school for girls), stressed that the digital divide was exacerbated by a lack of awareness and education in rural areas.
Commenting on the partnership, Gul-e-Mariam said, “Poverty, socio-cultural barriers, and powerful gender norms in the patriarchal rural system adds to the problems of female literacy. To alleviate poverty and increase female literacy and hence economic empowerment, we need to educate our women in rural areas.”
Furthermore, she added, “Digitalizing the Wasawewala girls’ school has opened avenues of awareness and doors of opportunity to females of the locality as well as the surrounding areas. We aim to conduct awareness sessions on health, education and connect classrooms from urban schools to our rural school campus.”
She further added, “We express our gratitude to the Zong team for their support in spreading the light of knowledge and trying to bridge the digital divide between urban and rural schools.”
Zong has recently increased its efforts in Pakistan to promote digital education. The company recently collaborated with the Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) to develop an online course titled “How to E-lance.”
The goal is to broaden the reach of digital learning and assist even more young people, particularly women, who face mobility and safety barriers in becoming digitally connected and establishing online careers.
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