Zong Sets Up Digital Lab at Okara School

Currently, the school has a computer curriculum and teachers but lacks computers to practically learn and practice. The digital lab set up by Zong will plug this gap and allow the young students and their teachers to access digital education and match their pace with the world in terms of modern education.

An official spokesperson of Zong shared, “The digital lab in Wasawewala School is aimed at reducing the digital divide that continues to be massive especially among the underserved segments of Pakistani society. The initiative is in line with the country’s vision of Digital Pakistan of which Zong is a key enabler.”

“This is one of the many steps we have taken and plan to take in the future to digitally empower the Pakistani masses and open the doors of opportunities for them,” he added.

Gul-e-Mariam, Chairperson of The Star School, Wasawewala campus (registered elementary school for girls) emphasized that in rural areas, the digital divide was adding to lack of awareness and education.

Commenting on the partnership, Gul-e-Mariam said, “Poverty, socio-cultural barriers, and powerful gender norms in the patriarchal rural system adds to the problems of female literacy. To alleviate poverty and increase female literacy and hence economic empowerment, we need to educate our women in rural areas.”

Digitalizing the Wasawewala girls’ school has opened avenues of awareness and doors of opportunity to females of the locality as well as the surrounding areas. We aim to conduct awareness sessions on health, education and connect classrooms from urban schools to our rural school campus.”

She further added, “We express our gratitude to the Zong team for their support in spreading the light of knowledge and trying to bridge the digital divide between urban and rural schools.”

Zong has lately accelerated its efforts to promote digital education in Pakistan. Recently, the company joined hands with the Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) to launch an online course called ‘How to E-lance’.

The efforts are aimed to expand the digital learning outreach and support even more young people, especially women, who face mobility and safety challenges to get digitally connected and establish online careers.