GILGIT: The government of Gilgit-Baltistan has established a state-of-the-art library and computer laboratory in a high school in the remote district of Roundu to promote reading culture, the region’s chief secretary said.
“Everyone seems agreed that reading for pleasure is crucial to educational achievement. So why was it left to voluntary organisations to advocate it?” questioned a teacher, commending Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani on installing the library.
Since Wani’s appointment to the region in April, the government in Gilgit has taken a series of initiatives to promote education and transform the mechanism of the deliverance of knowledge.
Before Wani came, virtually all villages and towns in the region stood deprived of such facilities.
Just last month, the government hired 100 technology experts to teach Computer Science, STEAM learning and entrepreneurship in over 200 middle and high schools across the mountainous region.
STEAM is an educational approach that incorporates the arts into the more-familiar STEM model — which includes science, technology, engineering and mathematics. STEAM programmes can include any of the visual or performing arts, such as dance, design, painting, photography and writing.
The “revolutionary” project, Wani said at the time, aimed at familiarising the students with the latest trends in the fields of computer sciences and advancing STEAM education in schools.
In addition, acting on instructions from his office, the regional education department has also started a project to teach short courses on the most valued soft skills such as public speaking and negotiations in high schools of Gilgit city.
Starting this week, the courses — aimed at developing soft skills, such as self-awareness, integrity and communication — will be taught by experts from the private sector.
Calling the project a first in the public education sector of Pakistan, Wani, the chief secretary — who has steered efforts of the regional government to deliver quality education — said it will empower the youth to “present their true potential and further enhance their emotional intelligence”.
He was of the view that too much focus on modelling and safe, purpose-built case studies are failing to give students the experience of real-life dilemmas, difficult choices and working relationships.
