Focus Countries

Elevating Education at High Altitude: EdTech implementation in Gilgit-Baltistan

Resource type
Report
Title
Elevating Education at High Altitude: EdTech implementation in Gilgit-Baltistan
Abstract
Gilgit-Baltistan, located in the northernmost part of Pakistan, is a region known for its mountainous geography. Its complex geography creates challenges for education, such as geographic isolation and infrastructural limitations. While technology offers the potential to overcome these barriers of isolation, several infrastructural and capacity barriers prevent equitable access to EdTech. The Government of Gilgit-Baltistan has strived to respond to these barriers by introducing a more holistic EdTech implementation model that aims to contextualise solutions toward infrastructural and capacity needs. The study investigates the government’s reforms and initiatives to identify good practices and provide further recommendations to enhance EdTech implementation in Gilgit-Baltistan. It also considers the strengths and opportunities that shape Gilgit-Baltistan’s approaches to implementing EdTech through the 'STEAM' and 'Smart Schools' interventions. Key elements of the government’s approach to implementing EdTech include a focus on aligning intervention design with infrastructural needs, for example, by considering solarisation to improve access to power sources. The introduction of ‘hot spots’ to enable offline access to an LMS has enabled schools to access preloaded, curriculum-aligned teaching and learning materials. To overcome challenges in teacher capacity, the government invested in ‘Tech Fellows’ (IT graduates who support teachers with classroom integration) to bridge the gap between limited digital skills and implementation requirements. In this study, we find areas through which this model can be strengthened and highlight examples that implementers in low-resource settings can learn from. low-resource contexts; blended learning; Pakistan; Gilgit-Baltistan; digital skills; teacher training; solar energy; offline solutions An output of the EdTech Hub, https://edtechhub.org/
Report Type
Technical Report
Institution
EdTech Hub
Date
2024
Language
en
Call Number
edtechhub.1032
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Extra
DOI: 10.53832/edtechhub.1032 ZenodoArchiveID: 11652091 ZenodoArchiveConcept: 11652090
Citation
Aslam, M. N., Mazari, H., Hayat, A., Hassan, S. M., Afzal, N., Zahir, J., & Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, Pakistan. (2024). Elevating Education at High Altitude:  EdTech implementation in Gilgit-Baltistan [Technical Report]. EdTech Hub. https://doi.org/10.53832/edtechhub.1032
Hardware and modality
Educational level
Language of publication
Publisher and type
Focus Countries