LAHORE   -   Education sector in Pakistan has remained ignored and neglected for years. No timely developments in curriculum, infrastructure or in teaching methods were introduced according to the global standards. Unfortunately, for years it has never been considered as a top priority by the political leader-ship. But now there seems to be a glimmer of hope as the current Punjab gov-ernment is embracing technology to bring education to every home and this is a very smart approach. 

The use of technology will assist in spreading education as it will help peo-ple belonging to different remote parts of the country to gain access to the modern educational content rather than conventional ones.

Provincial Education Minister Punjab Murad Raas officially launched the Insaf Academy at Quaid-e-Azam Academy for Educational Development Headquarters, La-hore here on Wednesday. Secretary School Education Department, Chairman PCTB, MDPCTB, and others were present on the occasion of the launching ceremony of Insaf Academy.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony, the Murad Rass shed light upon the idea and features of Insaf Academy and said: “Our department has developed an e-learning platform in the form of Insaf Academy which is unprecedented in the past. In modern times, students can get quality education at home with the help of projects like Insaaf Academy.” Initially, the students of ninth to 12th classes will be able to benefit from the establishment of Insaf Academy, he said.

Appreciating the role of Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board in development of this iconic E-learning platform, he said, the textbook board played a vital role in establishing Insaaf Academy.

Talking about the benefits and key features of this online academy, the minis-ter added, Insaf Academy portal was garnished with great educational content because as many as 7000 plus recorded lectures, quizzes and MCQs are offered by this online learning platform  for  students of classes 9 to 12. 

“Children all over Pakistan can benefit from the online portal of Insaaf Acad-emy. Through the Insaf Academy portal, children can study as well as take tests under parental supervision. Students can listen to the lectures about any subject and topic as many times they want besides taking evaluation tests. It is totally free of cost. Moreover, establishment of a free online Insaaf Academy portal will negate academy and tuition culture,” he stated.

Speaking about the advantage of Insaf Academy in the flood hit areas, he said, more than 1,000 government schools were affected in Punjab due to floods, out of which around 500 have been restored. 

With the establishment of Insaf Academy, flood-affected children will also be able to benefit from sitting at home. And in areas where schools have not yet been restored, the Insaaf Academy will provide assistance in bridging the edu-cation gap and maintaining the continuity of education, he said.

While talking about the projects started in the last four years in the Depart-ment of Education Punjab he said,  despite strong internal and external oppo-sition, we have established our own data center of the Department of Education Punjab which is fully operational today.

In the time of past governments, the Department of School Education Punjab was deliberately pushed back and neglected because our political opponents do not want our future generations to become literate, he added.

He further said, when I got the ministry in 2018, there were dozens of people standing outside my office for transfer every day. 

We introduced the E-transfer system for transfer of teachers without spending a single rupee from the government exchequer, thanks to which thousands of teachers have benefited till date, he said.

Similarly, the leave and ACRs online system for teachers had also been estab-lished beside the establishment of an online retirement certificate system for full convenience and ease of teachers, he stated.

So far more than 15,000 teachers have easily obtained online retirement cer-tificates sitting at home without any problem, he added.

“Since the introduction of the online system in the Punjab Education Depart-ment, annual corruption of 10 billion rupees was curtailed.”, he said.