CS First 'digital Literacy Project' Being Launched In Pakistan To Assist IT Students: Minister

(@FahadShabbir)

CS first 'digital literacy project' being launched in Pakistan to assist IT students: Minister

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Oct, 2020 ) :Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haque Friday said that under the PM vision for digital Pakistan, IT ministry with the collaboration of Google and other private partnership was launching a 'CS first digital literacy project' in country to assist millions of students.

Talking to a private news channel, he said Google's new program aims to solve three key problems in the education sector in the county including lack of digital educational content in local languages, access to devices and internet, and training teachers to use digital tools.

He said CS First is an early age coding program for kids aged between 9 to 14 and consists of a free computer science curriculum that makes coding easy to teach and fun to learn through video-based activities, with different themes like sports, art, and game design.

"CS First Program is an important stepping stone in introducing digitalization in Pakistan", said Syed Amin Ul Haque said.

Minister for IT and Telecommunication said CS First Program will prove best platform for Pakistani students.

"We want to help the youth of this country to better understand the importance of digital skills and realize the dream of a digital Pakistan", he added.

He explained that in the initial phase of the program the Telecom Foundation Schools will benefit from this initiative and pass on this digital literacy to the underprivileged and low income households within its mandated segment.

It will be piloted to the students of the TF schools covering three cities i.e. Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore and then it will expand to other more than 12 other cities, minister mentioned.

He also said that with the start of this program we will see a huge difference in the IT export as well and through this platform teachers will also get the IT training to educate children.

IT minister said the private partnership with Google will help his department roll out tech solutions to students and teachers with digital learning with online courses and classes.

Google is providing students and teachers with a range of services, including IT education, Google Forms for conducting quizzes and tests, access to Google Meet video conferencing services and Google Classroom, which enables educators to create, review and organize assignments, as well as communicate directly with students, he added.

"Our teachers and youth have the huge responsibility in shaping the future of our new generation, and we continue to be honored to play a role in offering digital tools that can enable more teachers to help even more students stay firmly on their journey of learning, during these times and beyond," Amin concluded.