Ilm Association makes Award-Winning Learning Solutions Freely Available for K-12 Pakistani Schools and Colleges During the Coronavirus Pandemic

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) that emerged in Wuhan, China last December, has spread to at least 163 countries including Pakistan. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak a pandemic. The Government of Pakistan is proactively dealing with COVID-19, a Dashboard is available for updates http://covid.gov.pk/.

In an attempt to combat the spread of coronavirus, the Government of Pakistan ordered all educational institutes (including all schools and universities, public and private, vocational institutions, and madaris) to remain closed. Examinations in the country have also been postponed for an indefinite period.

Ilm Association (ilmA) is the largest and most reputable industry association formed to represent Pakistan’s growing domestic education-tech industry. With the recent addition of Sabaq Foundation and Orenda, we now represent the vast majority of the digital learning and education innovation industry.

Ilm Association’s leadership and members are working around the clock to serve the educational needs of millions of students/parents/teachers across Pakistan for the Covid-19 emergency. Although less pervasive than other countries, internet use in Pakistan has grown after 3G internet and applications such as whatsapp are now routinely used by mobile users.

Source: ASER Pakistan 2019, www.aserpakistan.org  

According to our estimates, more than 3 million Pakistani students are familiar with internet based learning. In order to immediately support and assist students/parents/teachers and facilitate learning continuity, especially for our most vulnerable and hard to reach populations, Ilm Association members are providing the following learning solutions for FREE to students, teachers and educational institutes.

Note: This list will be updated in real time as other members come on-line with their solutions. Stay tuned and revisit this page frequently for latest offers!

AzCorp Entertainment offers stories in the form of comics and audios that combine meaningful and entertaining storytelling with embedded themes of civics, social justice, and gender equality. We work with kids, teens and young adults as our primary audience. 

Solution: Sheeba and the Private Detectives is a series of multiple issues, featuring six friends (three girls, one boy, a dog and a donkey) that travel across Pakistan in search of mysteries. The content is appropriate for ages 7-13 and it is an amalgamation of an engaging story line that incorporates within itself the basic concepts of math and science, along with interesting facts about Pakistan’s history and geography. The comics are supplemented with engaging audio stories that make learning fun for the average student. The audio stories can be accessed via AzCorp’s channel on SoundCloud.

The SPD comic books are available for free on the Geeks Republic App on Android platforms. Comics are in both English and Urdu languages.

Target Audience: Students in Grades 2 – 7

Link: Audio Stories:  https://soundcloud.com/geeksrepublic

Geeks Republic:https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.geeksrepublic.app

EDKASA’s platform allows for live, interactive classes connecting one expert teacher to multiple students at a time – reducing the need for face to face teaching.  Over 22,000 students are already using this channel.

Solution: 800+ free STEM educational videos on YouTube for FSc and Matric students. Videos are organized by subject and all topics are in line with national curricula requirements and Board examinations.  In addition, EdKasa is offering a Coronavirus Helpline specifically for FSc students where they can ask questions, talk to teachers, and get the latest updates LIVE — six days per week at 2:00 PM on www.youtube.com/edkasa.  

Target Audience: Students in Grades 9 – 12

Link: www.youtube.com/edkasa

Learning Pitch’s Learning Management System provides students access to high-quality recorded lectures.

Solution: My InterAcademy – is a learning platform for Pre-Engineering and Pre-Medical students (Sindh and Punjab), with recorded lectures, online assessments, and past papers. In addition, Learning Pitch’s Crash Course offers 50 hours of pre-bundled lectures on key examination topics/concepts and 50 past papers completely free.

Target Audience: Intermediate/FSC students across Sindh and Punjab – Pre-Engineering and Pre-Medical

Link: www.myinteracademy.com

KarMuqabla’s innovative educational website provides students free online textbooks (Sindh Textbook Board) along with engaging gaming modules where they can assess their learning.

Solution: Competitive games covering the entire syllabus from grades 5 to 8 across seven subjects (aligned with the national curriculum) are available for self-assessment and self-learning at home.

Target Audience: Students in Grades 5 – 8

Link: https://www.karmuqabla.com/

Knowledge Platform, leverages technology to provide 21st-century quality education on an equitable basis. Their products are being used by over 800,000 students in Asia and over 200,000 students in Pakistan.

In Pakistan, 80,000 of these students are from 430 schools that have licensed their Learn Smart Classroom platform (with the embedded Virtual Campus). Moreover, 120,000 students are part of their FREE gamified cloud platform Learn Smart Pakistan, where they earn Honey Coins for every educational activity, participate in challenges and get rewards (books, tablets, merchandise, scholarships, etc.) every month. They have recently become official AFS Affiliate for Pakistan (https://afs.org/) and so far have sent 9 students to Japan on AFS scholarship under Learn Smart Pakistan.

The following table shows the geographic spread of their products across 360 cities and towns of Pakistan. As per device usage data, 74% of their users use mobile phones and tablets.

Access outside main cities

Access including main cities

Virtual Campus is being used by 430 schools across Pakistan and 70 schools have signed up during last one week taking the count to 500 schools. For more details about Virtual Campus, please visit https://bit.ly/2Jel575  

Learn Smart Pakistan platform provides adaptive learning to more than 200,000 students across 360 cities of Pakistan. For more details about Learn Smart Pakistan, please visit www.learnsmartpakistan.org. Download free Google App from http://bit.ly/32IKbDO and free Apple App from https://apple.co/2VDpxne

Teach Smart Pakistan will allow any teacher to take a diagnostic test for a subject or pedagogy and will be able to create a dynamic learning path using AI. A 29 modules comprehensive pedagogy online course has been developed specifically for Pakistan. For more details about Teach Smart Pakistan, please visit www.teachsmartpakistan.org

For more details about any of the above products, please visit http://www.knowledgeplatform.com.pk/

For further details or discussions or partnerships, please get in touch with the people below.

• Talhah Munir Khan CEO, Knowledge Platform Pakistan, 0345-5004474, tkhan@knowledgeplatform.com  
• Hira Zainab Director, Outreach and Engagement, 0345-5134413, hzainab@knowledgeplatform.com  

Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA), the organization behind the Children’s Literature Festival, offers multiple solutions for students and teachers.

ITA COVID-19 response has Three Action Strategies for children, parents/caregivers and teachers/educators: 1)Academics, Accelerated and Second Chance Learning and Assessments 2)Creativity Expression and Healing 3)Prevention and Protection – Lifeskills and Empowerment

The solutions will enable communities to face COVID-19 individually and collectively in collaboration with Government, CSOs, Industry and Development Partners.

ACADEMICS, ACCELERATED AND SECOND CHANCE LEARNING ASSESSMENTS:

Solution # 1: Functional Literacy/Chalo Parho Barho/Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) : a 50-60 day learning camp to boost learning outcomes in literacy and numeracy for in-school and OOS children.

Target Audience: Children of age group 6-12

Link: http://www.itacec.org/CPB-(Accelerated-Learning-Programme)

Contact Person: Sahar Saeed, Phone # 0322-4616047, Email Address: sahar.saeed@itacec.org

Solution # 2: Siyani Sahelian – Accelerated Second Chance Program: A second chance program for out of school adolescent girls and boys to complete primary, middle and secondary education through tech based learning, life skills for psychosocial support and TVET for 13 years

Target Audience: Primary to Secondary Grade students

Link: http://www.itacec.org/a3g

Contact Person: Saba Saeed, Phone # 0332-4165160, Email Address: saba.saeed@itacec.org

Solution # 3: ASER Inclusive Assessment: A household based assessment video in three basic competencies (lower primary content) i.e. Language (Urdu/Sindhi/Pashto/English) and Arithmetic. There are tools available online and free of cost to gauge learning competencies of children and those with hearing impairment (in collaboration with Deaf Reach)

Target Audience: Students of Grades 1-10 , Age: 5-16

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12on9QVVZe4&t=978s and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBUjeWYJBRM

Contact Person: Sahar Saeed, Phone # 0322-4616047 , Email Address: sahar.saeed@itacec.org

Solution # 4: Technology Enabled Education Resource Library (TEERL), K-12 Teachers CPD and preparation for grade and subject-specific topics mapped to National/Provincial Curriculum TEERL

Target Audience: Teachers K-10 and Students/ Parents

Link: https://wp.cel.uwaterloo.ca/twf/

Contact Person: Fida Hussain, Phone # 0321-6314340, Email Address: http://fida.itacec.org

CREATIVITY, EXPRESSION AND HEALING:

Solution # 5: Children’s Literature Festival (CLF) online: Online Link: http://childrensliteraturefestival.com/online-activities-clf-tlf/

1)Story Telling: http://itacec.org/Storytelling

2)Online Book Club: http://itacec.org/Online-Book-Club

3)Art Therapy/Interactive Activities: http://itacec.org/Art-Therapy-Interactive-Activities

4)Theatre and Puppetry: http://itacec.org/Theatre-and-Puppetry

Target Audience: Children (4-16)/Teachers/Parents

Contact Person: Sehrish Farooq, Phone # 0336-2413806, Email: sehrish.farooq@itatec.org

Solution # 6: Corona Saviours – Corona Saviours campaign aims to mobilize children and youth to spread awareness and authentic information for prevention of CoronaVirus through making behaviour change a reality.

Target Audience: General Public

Link for registration of Corona Saviors: http://www.itacec.org/Corona-Saviours-Register

Contact Person: Joshua Dilawar, Phone # 0300-4123571, Email Address: Joshua.dilawar@itatec.org

Solution # 7: To promote protection and empowerment, customized animated short films on 5 different subjects of financial literacy, menstruation, education, nutrition and self-awareness are created with Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy (SOC) Films – Siyani Sahelian and Creating Spaces

Target Audience: Students/ Adolescent girls/ Teachers (Grades 5-10)

Links: http://itacec.org/a3g/partnership_soc_films.html

Rafi Peer Theater Puppet Show: https://youtu.be/Anz3q5tP340

Short 5 SOC Films for Adolescents: ttp://itacec.org/SOC-Films-for-Adolescents

Short ITA-Siyani Sahelian Films: http://itacec.org/Short-ITA-Siyani-Sahelian-5-Films-by-students

Contact Person: Saba Saeed, Phone # 0332-4165160, Email Address: saba.saeed@itacec.org

Solution # 8: SAFE Internet and Outreach Programme: SAFE Internet educates the children of Pakistan on the safe use of the Internet, reducing the chances of online risk (such as cyberbullying, trolling, fake news etc) and promoting online safety measures ensuring privacy and information security.

Target Audience: Children between the ages of 9-15 years, Teachers, Parents and Government Departments

Link: http://itacec.org/SAFE-Internet-and-Outreach-Programme

Contact Person(s): Waqas Bajwa, Phone # 0300-8524432, Email Address: waqas@itacec.org Zainab Zafar, Phone # 0323-5068071, Email Address: zainab.zafar@itacec.org

SABAQ’s education solution supplements regular instruction at schools in primary grades and provides out-of-school children (OOSC) with access to high-quality content for the development of literacy and numeracy skills, aligned with the national curriculum.

Solution: The MUSE K-5 Learning App is available on Android devices and platforms. It offers more than 2,000 learning resources (video lessons, stories/eBooks, quizzes and games) for students and teachers covering Math, Science, English, Urdu and Sindhi in line with national and provincial curricula.  Parents can track student progress using dashboards in the app.

Target Audience: KG—Grade 5 students and parents

Link: https://bit.ly/museforilma

SABAQ Foundation is a registered non-profit trust with the Government of Pakistan. Its main objective is to create world class tutoring videos for all Pakistani students studying in both English medium and urdu medium schools

Solution: . Sabaq Foundation has prepared and uploaded more than 12,000 video lectures on the website sabaq.pk for all educational boards of Pakistan (Sindh, Punjab, KP, Baluchistan and Federal) till date. The subjects include Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology, English, General Science, Computer Science, General Math, Statistics and Accounting. To implement the concept of Blended Learning, the teachers make use of Computer animations and multimedia in the lectures.

Target Audience: Grades K-12

Link: https://sabaq.pk/

The team of teachers, curriculum experts, developers, data analysts and animators at Orenda have digitised the national curriculum of Pakistan into a highly contextualised and localised animated series that is capable of taking a child from complete illiteracy to advanced literacy and numeracy skills.

Solution: The Taleemabad Learning Apps contain more than 500 animated videos and 20,000 assessments spanning the K-12,6-12 spectrum, covering the entire subject library of each grade according to the national curriculum. The apps are designed to adapt according to each learner’s unique learning needs and also report on current progress in the parent portal.

Target Audience: K-12 students, parents and teachers

Link: bit.ly/taleemabad (Learning Learning App) and bit.ly/Taleemabad (Taleemabad Learning App: Grade 6 – 12)

Target Audience: K-12 students, parents and teachers

For feedback and comments, please write to us at info@ilmassociation.com