DigiSTEM Learning Solution

Remote areas of Sindh Province of Pakistan are facing a dreadful issue of the provision of quality education in schools. The result of the SAT Survey conducted by the World Bank shows that more than 85% of the students of Grade-I to Grade-VIII in Sindh Province get average score lower than 40% Math and Science Subjects. As these subjects play crucial roles in critical and analytical development of a kid. To address this issue, Sukkur IBA University will establish a Digital STEM learning facility to support schools in remote rural areas of Sindh province. Through which initially the students and teachers of Grade-V will be provided quality learning resources and training  in the Math, Science and IT subject through a hybrid learning mode intheir native lanaguage Sindhi.

Rural aras of Pakistan account for more than 63 percent of the total population. While Pakistan’s literacy rate in rural areas shows a bit improvement of 51% as compared to 49% from the previous year. Whereas in Sindh the literacy rate in rural areas is 39%. This shows that provision of quality education is very poor in rural areas of Sindh as compared to other provinces Pakistan i.e. Punjab and KPK. The ASER report 2019 shows that more than 31% of Grade-5 students of rural areas of Sindh province could do two-digit division. 31% of children in class 5 could recognize time correctly, 31% could solve addition word problems and 27% could solve multiplication word problems. The factors behind this poor quality of education in Sindh is that limited availability of quality teachers in  schools of rural areas that are untrained, low level of interactive teaching, poor learning facilities and environment of class rooms along with outdated curriculum and no discussion about STEM and inquiry-based education.  

The solution will provide quality learning material, resources and training in Math, Science and computer subjects for the primary students and Capacity Building of teachers through a hybrid mode of learning in Sindhi. Experts from Sukkur IBA University will design and develop the learning content based on STEM these designed content will be developed in the DSS for the use of hybrid learning. To deploy the content developed in DSS, Sukkur IBA University will establish smart classrooms in identified schools of Sindh. These smart classrooms will consist of Audio Visual and Computing Devices such as Computers, LED Screen, Speakers and Mic. The pre-recorded lecturers will be installed in these smart classrooms. This will be an asynchronized learning method. A teacher will be dedicated at each school, who will guide the students through these recorded sessions, and he will also train 5 teachers (Math/Science) from his school. Experts from Sukkur IBA University will also provide online (where there is access to the internet) and face to face (if limited or no access of internet) guidance and training to students and teachers of the identified remote school once each month to monitor the progress of the students

The target population for this challenge is Students and teachers of Grade – 5 from schools of remote rural areas of Sindh, Pakistan. Sukkur IBA University was awarded the Standardized Achievement Test - SAT through the Government of Sindh, Pakistan sponsored by the World Bank. The purpose of this SAT was to assess the skills of children from Grade-III to Grade- VIII in Math and  Science . The result showed that the average score of all students of grade-5 was less than 40% in science and math subjects.

Such results indicate that the students of Grade-5 are deprived from quality education especially in Math and Science subjects. Understanding of Math and Science subjects is very important to develop analytical and critical thinking among students. This will also create hindrances for students from rural areas of Sindh for clearing entrance exams for higher education.

Since inception, Sukkur IBA University has been working hard to improve the quality education system in Sindh especially in rural areas of Sindh. To cater the needs of understanding Math, Science and IT subjects, the team has developed the solution to build the capacity of teachers and students of Grade-5 in Math and Science subjects after consultation with community.

The proposed solution is accurately aligned with the objectives of “Equitable Classroom Challenge” . It is technology-based solutions for primary and secondary school learners for quality education and Support teachers to adapt their pedagogy, facilitate personalized instruction, and communicate with students and their families in remote and hybrid settings.

To align with this challenge and dimension, Sukkur IBA University has developed the solution to enhance the capacity building of students and teachers of remote areas of Sindh through asynchronized learning method and face to face session to adapt modern pedagogy and create analytical skills among students. 

The approach to this solution is already implemented by different education institutions but we are bringing some different approaches in it. Most of the NGOs use pre-recorded OR already available resources to teach  these students in other then Sindhi(95% population Mother tongue in rural areas is Sindhi)

  Sukkur IBA University will use our own experts from the Education Department to record these sessions in the video format in local language(Sindhi) which will be deployed in all the pilot schools in their smart classrooms through hybrid mode. To do this, we have selected rural communities nearby Sukkur IBA University where school progress is below average.  Therefore, we are going for a pilot stage to solve the problem.

EDC Sukkur IBA University will provide a significantly improved hybrid approach to said problem as different educational NGOs are also adapting the approach by establishing audiovisual rooms in remote areas of Sindh but they provide resources through 3rd party and  in other than mother tongue as well as without any interaction with students and teachers. As resources are not in the local language, they create problems for students in learning which is evident from STA and ASER results. Whereas Sukkur IBA University will bring  experts teaching to develop the resources / recorded sessions as well as  online/face to face interaction to enhance the learning/understanding  capabilities of the students and teacher. The resources will be developed in the local language (Sindhi ) so that students can easily understand the concept and apply it in their classroom. Apart from this, our experts’ recorded sessions will be based on STEM and inquiry based learning. 

Initially we will implement this solution for 06 months. Total 10 schools will be selected from interior Sindh to establish the audiovisual room for learning of Math and Science subjects. 50 students from each school will be benefiting directly through Digital Learning (Audiovisual) technology. So currently, a total 500 students will be learning Math and Science subjects directly. Apart from this 6 teachers from each school will be trained for Math and Science subjects. In total 60 teachers will be trained in 06 months.

In year one we will be targeting 3000 students and 300 teachers from rural areas of Sindh to benefit from this Digital Learning (Audiovisual) technology. In 05 year, we will be targeting to serve 50000 students and 5000 teachers directly throughout Sindh province of Pakistan.

Following will be the impact goal for Next Year

1.    To establish Digital STEM Learning Room at Government Schools in three different regions of Sindh i.e. Khairpur, Hyderabad, Naushahro Feroze and Dadu

2.    To teach 3000 students first   year  and upto through hybrid learning in mentioned regions.

3.    To train 300 teachers in these regions for Math and Science content and pedagogy.

Sukkur IBA University has its own campuses in other regions. To achieve these impact goals, Sukkur IBA University through its campuses will replicate the solution in different schools of these regions.

Following will be the impact goal for Next 05 Year

1.    To establish a Digital STEM Learning Room at some dedicated government schools in all districts of Sindh , provinces of Pakistan and possibly a south Asian country.

2.    To teach 50000 students through hybrid mode in all districts of Sindh.

3.    To train 5000 teachers in all districts of Sindh province for Math and Science content and pedagogy. To achieve this goal, Sukkur IBA University has its community colleges and schools in different regions of Sindh. With the help of these schools and colleges we will replicate this solution in these regions. We will also coordinate with the Government of Sindh to execute this solution in those regions where Sukkur IBA Colleges and schools are not present. 

1.     Dr. Altaf Hussain Samo                           -                                              +92 333 3613881

2.    Mr. Syed Kamran Ali Shah                                   -                                  +92 333 7119585

3. Mr. Rahatullah Khan                                              -                                  +92 334 2909060

4. Ms. Shireen Soomro                                                                                   +92 333 7188552

  5. Mr. Muhammad Zubair                   

Dr. Altaf Hussain Samo

Dr. Altaf is  MIT Entrepreneurship Teacher Fellow, Country Lead Global Mentoring Program, working as Director EDC, Sukkur IBA. He has worked on different educational, research and training projects as a Key Expert, Project Lead, Consultant, Researcher, Country Head and Team Lead with national and international organizations such as ADB, UNDP, USAID, GUESSS, Sindh Government, Sindh Education Foundation and Sukkur IBA.

Mr. Syed Kamran Naqvi

Mr. Syed Kamran is a training and development expert with more than 9 years of experience. He has managed different teachers training projects throughout Sindh and has developed good relations with the Government of Sindh to execute different training /educational activities.

Mr. Rahatullah Khan

Practicing Marketing, Digital Communication expert with demonstrated history of working in the Higher Education industry along with Educational Training and Development. In addition, over the time developed skills in I.T such as, web analytics, designing and development.

Ms. Shireen Soomro

Ms. Shireen is Science trainer at Sukkur IBA EDC. She has done MSc in Biotechnology from Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom. She has trained more than 3000 teachers throughout Sindh. Apart from this Ms. Shireen has developed many training modules based on science subjects.

Mr. Muhammad Zubair

Mr. Zubair is a Math trainer at Sukkur IBA EDC. He has done BSc in Mathematics. He is responsible for designing mathematics training programs for teachers and developing resources. Mr. Zubair has trained more than 3000 government / private school teachers in Sindh.

The leadership of Sukkur IBA University always emphasizes serving the community through its well qualified experts. Our leaders bring diversified and equitable (male and female) experts at Sukkur IBA, who belong from Gilgit Baltistan to Karachi. The communities we are serving in Pakistan, especially in Sindh, belong to different religions, different cultures and different ethnicities. At Sukkur IBA University, apart from Sindhi Community we have more than 50% students belongs to other communities i.e. Hindu, Christian, Punjabi, Balochi, Pashtun, Hazara and Agha Khani. Leaders at Sukkur IBA not only believe in diversity but also believe in equity by providing equal chances to male and female. The mission of Sukkur IBA leadership is to contribute and serve the community by imparting knowledge through innovative teaching and applied research at the global levels of excellence regardless of any ethnicity. We aim to establish and sustain a competitive, meritorious environment by strengthening faculty and using state-of-the-art technology to produce graduates with analytical & creative thinking, leadership skills and entrepreneurial spirit, who possess global outlook and are conscious of ethical values.

The financial and technical support from Solve can further improve our solution and help us to overcome the barriers. As COVID-19 has disturbed the education system throughout the world and has affected revenue generation activities at many educational institutions. Same is the case at Sukkur IBA University, we have limited budget to run the academic activities. Therefore in the pilot phase we need funds from Solve to execute this activity smoothly, as it will help us to run the activities as planned. As soon as we execute this activity, we will start requesting the government of Sindh and different NGOs for long run funding for this activity.  If selected by solve our solution get validation whichwill  helpus picthing solution for  further funding and scale to different parts of Pakistan and then world.

we would like to seek support in developing a better Business model ( product-market fit, strategy & development) so that the solution become self sustainable and workable in underdeveloped regions in long run.  We are also looking for support in terms of Technology (software or hardware, AI, data analysis, etc.) that can help developing a solution which can translate Audio visual material in local languages as well provide access to low internet connectivity areas in rural areas

Any MIT Faculty or solve Initiative working on AI tool/s for translating  STEM content from English to local languages  or other techniques can help us to further improve and enhance the resources availability in the local languages and solution for low or limited internet connectivity areas

 Following organizations may become our potential partners for this solution.

Pakistan Science foundation

Khan academy

SOLVE

 As these organizations are involved in providing quality education  so they may be helpful for us to identify the affected schools in rural areas of Sindh where we can implement this solution. Apart from this, these organizations have also built networks in different communities of rural areas which may help us to create awareness among these potential communities to involve their kids to become part of this solution (In case they are not ready to allow them).

This solution will mitigate the 

 issue of the provision of quality STEM education in rural community/government schools in Sindh, Pakistan. The result of the SAT Survey conducted by the World Bank shows that more than 85% of the students of Grade-I to Grade-VIII in Sindh Province get average score lower than 40% Math and Science Subjects. As these subjects play crucial roles in critical and analytical development of a kid. To address this issue, Sukkur IBA University will establish a Digital STEM learning facility to support schools in remote rural areas of Sindh province. Through which initially the students and teachers of Grade-V will be provided quality learning resources and training in the Math, Science and IT subject through a hybrid learning mode in community / government schools