11 Mln Students Registered Through System Designed To Track Enrollment, Retention

Around 11 million students have been registered through School Information System for public school which has been designed to track enrollment and retention of students

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Jan, 2019 ) :Around 11 million students have been registered through School Information System for public school which has been designed to track enrollment and retention of students.

Phenomenal changes through Information and Communication Technology (ICT) initiatives were witnessed in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during last few years.

The improvements in service delivery outcomes across key social sectors like education, healthcare, municipality services and law & order remained focus areas of Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Technology Board (KPITB).

In education, IT enabled solution to long standing problems concerning monitoring and evaluation of staff, enrollment and retention of children at education institutions remained PITB's focus.

In this regard, real time monitoring of 47,856 public schools in Punjab was done with help of SIM based tablets for monitoring officers to submit visit forms online.

Similarly, projects including measuring student learning outcome cost effectively, automation of large scale exam system, college admission "online, not in-line" and e-learn Punjab localized ed-tech solutions are major success in making education sector IT enabled.

A report issued by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Wednesday revealed that the Board ensured transparency, efficiency and efficacy in service delivery.

It has laid foundation for a modern public sector infrastructure in the province that is efficient, responsive and accountable.

The board initiated number of projects under process automation for convenience of people of Punjab with a transparent approach. It includes e-filing and office automation of government departments including law, finance, services, Lahore Waste Management System (LWMC) etc.

Similarly e-payment gateway has been established that will streamline levies collection from citizens. Punjab flood disaster management is another initiative, wherein applications have been developed with geotagging and pictorial evidences to ensure disaster management.

Ignite funded 19 technology driven innovative projects worth approximately Rs. 357.76 million in 2017-18 were launched and these included Electrocure Governance tool for Electricity Data Management (energy), Object Detection & Categorization for Blind using Deep Neural Learning (disabled empowerment), Innovative Learning Solution for Science Education (education), Smart Coronary Stent Endoprosthesis for Real Time Coronary Heart Disease Management (health), Portable Optical Sensor for rapid, non-invasive, and on-site diagnosis of tuberculosis (health), formulating Sustainable Irrigation Management Information System using real time irrigation water demand & supply for rural areas development (agriculture).

College Admission "Online, not In-line" project was also launched with Higher Education Department, whereby standardized admission application mechanism that is simple, convenient and cost effective was implemented across all public colleges of Punjab. The system reduces number of physical visits of students and parents for admission, keeps the admission process simple, convenient and transparent and reduce application compilation and merit list preparation time.

Over one million applications have been processed via this system. This system is implemented in over 716 colleges that are offering 2,767 courses.

Plans are to integrate it with mobile payment platforms to further streamline the application fee payment process.

In health sector projects including tracking vaccinators (e-vaccs), Disease Surveillance System, Dengue Tracking System, Biometric Attendance System for Health Facilities, Monitoring System for Polio Campaign, Drug Inspection and many more are being implemented in the province.

The PITB along with expanded program on immunization under its mission to eradicate Polio addressed the vulnerabilities of the program. The PITB provided vaccinators smartphones with applications to digitize their field work and monitor attendance and performance. The smartphones were used to enter real time immunization records that were sent to centralized data base. With this application, attendance of field staff rose from 36% (2014) to 94% (2016) and geographic coverage improved to 88%. The project was replicated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

The law and order projects undertaken by PITB included Electronic FIR, Punjab Police HR Management Information System (HRMIS), Computerization of Police Stations, Complaint Management System, Criminal Record Management System, Criminal Identifier, IG Khuli Kachehri, Automation of Lahore High Court, Tenant Registration System , Crime Mapping, Anti Vehicle Lifting System, Legal Dispute Tracking System, Reforms in Motor Vehicle Registration, CTD geotagging, Call Data Record based crime analysis, Punjab Police Toolkit and Prison Management System.

There are number of agriculture focused projects that have been undertaken by PITB along with Punjab agriculture department which includes agriculture e-credit scheme and ease on doing business.

E-registration Portal has been developed with an objective to reduce registration processing time from 7 to 2 days.

Similarly, KPITB, has taken number of initiatives including trainings, youth employment, IT parks, IT centers, tele-medicine centers, KP cyber security, response center and automation of police FIR registers etc.

There are number of initiatives undertaken by the board that are underway and will be operational in near future, whereas, expected benefits are huge.

In collaboration with the health department, KPITB has established a tele-medicine center in Behali, district Mansehra and this facility will be extended across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Similarly KP-CERC is the first of its kind project, pioneering new cyber security technologies and programs, ensuring a safe cyber space for citizens.

A number of initiatives have also been taken for training of human resource in field of ICT, thereby creating pool of resources for employment opportunities that are expected to rise as sector grows. Innovation centers have been inaugurated in several cities of the province including Swat, Mardan, Swabi and now in Peshawar. Basicobjective is to link growing opportunities with technologicaldevelopments.