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DIGITAL GLOBALISATION IN EDUCATION: Where Does Pakistan Stand?

Digital Globalisation in Education & Pakistan 

What is the Digital Globalisation in Education?

The term digital globalization in education from a broader perspective describes the new age of cross borders learning through the use of the internet and technology. Unlike manual learning, it is not necessary for the learners to gather at a particular place instead learners can have access from anywhere and to some extent at any time.

In the current scenario of the pandemic lockdown due to COVID – 19, the world has been going through a new phase of transition as far as education is concerned. Digital globalization in education has emerged as an alternative mode of virtual learning instead of physical or manual learning. 

Online learning has successfully provided a platform to manage the challenging situation which has emerged due to Corona Virus back in November 2019. This current situation has also impacted Pakistan including the current formal prevailing education system in the country. 

Digital Globalisation & Pakistan

As the world has already been familiar with global digitalization in education but as far as Pakistan is concerned we shall discuss its impacts through this literature review.  

According to a recently published report of May 2019, by British Council, “Pakistan, in terms of demographics has the highest number of youth who are under 30 years of age”. Pakistan has one of the world’s largest generations of population consisting of young people with 66% of its total population based on youth. 

Such a huge number of youth is definitely a great asset for Pakistan if it is going to be effectively utilized as a huge source of human resources by providing them quality education.

Besides the above-mentioned facts, 76.38 million (35%) of the total population of the country has access to the internet (UNITED NATIONS, GSMA INTELLIGENCE, GLOBALWEBINDEX, EUROSTAT,). Although it is a huge number still not up to the mark keeping in view the total population of Pakistan which is over 220 million. 

With reference to it, the annual increase in turnover in the number of Internet users is 17%. This means that about 11 million people in Pakistan start to use the internet every New Year. 

Keeping in view the above increasing rate of internet users, the country will reach 95% to 100% of internet users by 2025. Apart from that, among the total number of Internet users in Pakistan, 99% of internet users are comprised of social media users i.e. they use smart cell phones & tablet gadgets while only 1% share is comprised of laptop & desktop computer users.

United Nation's Role in Digital Globalisation in Education 

In light of the above statistics, the UN emphasizes that “The impact of globalization with its accompanying information revolution has highlighted the need to review, re-visit and re-design policies, considering the opportunities globalization provides for advancement – as well as its possible pitfalls”. 

UN has also stressed that “The first instrument is education for knowledge accreditation of the youth. It is the most important tool for improving human development results as education pacifies the capacities, capabilities, abilities, liberty, and choices among the younger generation”. 

Digital Globalisation in Education & Its Impacts on Pakistan: Current literacy rate of Pakistan is 62.3%, as per "Pakistan Economic Survey 2018-19 Chapter 10: Education", while Pakistan spends 2% of its national GDP. 

In 2017-2018 Pakistan spent 2.4% of its total GDP on education despite it being decided that a total of 7% of the national GDP will be spent in the National Education Policy of 2009 – 10. Pakistan has set a 100% literacy rate target by the end of 2030 in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

British Council & Digital Globalisation 

However, British Council in its report has highlighted that it is hard for Pakistan to achieve SDG targets to be monitored by UNESCO.  Economic instability, lack of devising effective policies, and low GDP spent are the major hurdles to achieving the SDGs goals, particularly in the field of education & literacy rate improvement.

Access to Education through Digital Globalisation 

According to Census 2018, nearly 65% of Pakistan’s total population lives in rural and semi-rural areas. Similarly, around 45% of the country’s overall labor depends on agriculture directly while 15% depends indirectly. 

On the other hand, 99% of the total population of Pakistan has access to electricity however frequent load-shedding or fluctuations in the power supply are very frequent. 

Energy crises are also one of the major obstacles to digital education and learning in Pakistan, particularly in rural areas where two-thirds part of the entire population is settled.

According to the World Bank Report (2018), only a privileged 20% of the adult population of Pakistan is an internet user and out of that particular 20%, around 85% of internet users belong to urban and semi-urban areas of the country. 

Similarly, 99% of internet users use mobile data as compared to broadband internet. Mobile data has low-speed issues and frequent disconnections, particularly in rural and semi-rural areas of the country. 

Poor service facilities and very limited internet signal-catching towers are in addition to the digital learning issues in most of the countryside areas of Pakistan.

Pedagogical Challenges for Digital Education in Pakistan: One of the major hurdles towards the pedagogical challenges for digital education and its strengthening in Pakistan is the inadequacy of the content in local languages according to British Council’s Report. 

The latest research suggests that the predominance of the English Language in the digital environment affects in a negative way how the medium is perceived in populations with poor English Language Skills. 

Thus students with advanced education and foreign language knowledge are more likely to adopt new technological advancements without any kind of great difficulty. 

However, students of state-owned institutions will greatly suffer and resist digital education due to poor quality of education and lack of English Language Skills. This may cause reinforce the digital and social divide in society.

Similarly, lack of awareness of available digital devices and services has also been pointed out as a prevalent theme in a series of studies mostly attributed to the absence of proper induction sessions. However, poor services can also be a sign of institutional resistance against the universal adaptation of digital technologies inside and outside the classroom.  

The introduction of an ICT – based model of pedagogy at all educational levels requires broader changes in the educational system and a shift from a teacher-centered methodology to learner-centered techniques, a change the sector might be anxious to make but at a slower velocity.

Policies and Institutions’ role for Digital Education in Pakistan

There is no doubt that digital education will be a new change agent for Pakistani society. In fact, the current pandemic situation has created a new door of opportunities for Pakistan to improve the quality of learning through an updated curriculum as more and more people are connected to the internet and can access knowledge and learning. 

Its effects will be intense in the coming time of near future however subject to overcoming the energy crises issues of the country.

On the other hand, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), monitored by UNESCO have given a real sense of urgency to develop a digitalization master plan that meets national objectives for economic and social advancement and subscribes to meeting SDG targets. 

Traditional education is not the answer. It can never be made available at the scale, quality, or cost to make it really comprehensive. It cannot meet learners’ modern requirements, easily allow women and girls the same excess to education and opportunity as men, or provide access to education to a very large number of societies that are based on youth. 

Inclusive Education through Digitalization in Pakistan

Federal Bureau of  Statistics, Ministry of  Education, World bank & UNDP reports reflect that girls have fewer opportunities as compared to boys. Particularly in rural areas, girls have hardly any access to education due to a number of reasons. 

Similarly, the literacy rate of girls in education stands at 51.8%  as compared to boys which stand at 72.5%. The same gap exists in rural & urban education where the rural literacy rate is 53.3% as compared to the urban literacy rate which is 76.6%. 

In order to eliminate marginalization through inclusive education, we need to address such gaps as gender inequality and less privileged communities, particularly in rural areas through digitalization including developing smart curricula and assessment criteria. 

Methodology & Results 

Countries like Pakistan which is an under-developing or a third-world country have several obstacles as far as implementing digital globalization in education across the country is concerned. Particularly the rural areas are a big challenge for Pakistan where there are several issues like frequent load-shedding of electricity, poor access to the internet, non-availability of electronic gadgets, and lack of interest in learning through digital means. 

Keeping in view the above-stated ground realities; this paper highlights the quantitative methodological approach in order to find possible and viable solutions in this regard.

Through a questionnaire survey total of 30 stakeholders in the form of students, parents, teachers, and principals were selected. A questionnaire based on 10 multiple choice questions was shared with them through a WhatsApp app and Facebook social apps.

They were asked to click any one choice in each given multiple-choice question as per their personal opinion and understanding. The questions were set keeping in view the problem statement including precise options based on a realistic approach.

All the participants agreed that digital learning will surely leave a positive impact on the quality of education in Pakistan. They also believed that learning through the internet will provide equal opportunities for learning across Pakistan. 

Similarly, all the participants agreed through a questionnaire survey that the main cause of the lack of students’ interest in digital learning is just because of very expensive internet packages in Pakistan. Students particularly those living in countryside areas certainly can’t afford these very much expensive internet packages on regular basis. 

On the other hand, many lower-middle-class background students also have some concerns that internet accessibility in Pakistan is very much expensive and they can’t afford it in the current situation of the price hike era in the country.

In a pedagogy-related question, participants were of different opinions. Around 30% of participants viewed poor English language skills as the main pedagogical challenge, while 45% of participants viewed poor ICT skills as the main pedagogical challenge, and the remaining 25% of participants expressed their views that inadequacy of the syllabus is the main pedagogical challenge. 

From the given response by the participants through a questionnaire survey it is quite clear that in order to implement digital learning in Pakistan, policymakers should provide necessary training to all the state teachers to improve their ICT skills along with developing a proper syllabus, curriculum, and scheme of studies at different levels.

The questionnaire survey clearly shows that various cellular companies including PTCL should provide better and cheap internet facilities in rural areas of the country. The setting of sufficient towers is a prerequisite so that poor internet accessibility can be overcome.  

On the other hand, electronic gadgets including smart cell phones should be ensured by the government of Pakistan to be sold out at a reasonable and affordable cost so that the maximum number of students can utilize access through digital learning and improve their quality of seeking education.

Conclusion

Digital globalization in education is not a new term as the world has already been quite familiar with that since the late decade of the 20th century. Pakistan has to respond to it properly by devising a proper master plan keeping in view the current pandemic situation due to coronavirus. 

Although Pakistan has already been introducing digital globalization in education however currently it is applicable at higher education and universities level which is not enough. 

It is dire need of time that it should be introduced at different levels including higher secondary, secondary, elementary, and primary levels along with developed pedagogical content in local as well as national languages. ICT training for teachers, supporting technical assistance, and digital devices including updated internet access facilities may also be given equal importance. 

State-owned institutions particularly in rural and semi-rural areas where the majority of the learners are living can be a great challenge for Pakistan as far as access to digital globalization in education is concerned. 

Teachers’ familiarity with technology, availability, and access to the internet, reduction of energy crises, and provision of internet gadgets and devices are a very big ask for the government however in order to meet the set SDG targets by 2030, digital globalization in education can leave very positive impacts in this regard. 

In fact, global digitalization in education may prove a new ray of hope as far as improving the quality of education and literacy ratio in Pakistan.

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Location: Larkana, Sindh, Pakistan

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