Govt school students to get free Google ID

CM agrees on laptop manufacturing with help of foreign firm

LAHORE:

Google ID will be provided free of cost to 50,000 students of government schools in Punjab, while Chromebook laptops will be assembled in the province in collaboration with an Australian firm, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif decided in a meeting with a delegation of the firms Allied, Tech Valley and Google for Education.

She said 1,000 teachers of government schools in the province would be offered free digital certification courses. ”A free certification courses project for 15,000 university students will also be launched. Google for Education will support the fee of $10.5 million,” she added.

The chief minister said a decision had been taken in principle to launch a Digital School on Wheels project in Punjab.

The delegation led by Google for Education Regional Head Paul Hutchings agreed to participate in the project. Possibilities of collaboration in digital education projects, smart classroom and digital education ecosystem were assessed in the meeting.

Both sides agreed to use technical support from Google for Education to compile authentic data of out-of-school children.

The chief minister was informed during a briefing by Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat that students of government schools would be able to log in through the Google ID.

She was apprised, ”University students will be given certification in antivirus, artificial intelligence and other courses.”

She was informed, ”By obtaining Level One and Two certificates, students will be able to easily get jobs around the world.”

Two pilot projects of Schools on Wheels will be launched in a few weeks, in which students will be able to study by logging in with their Google IDs.

With Chromebooks, the students will not have to download any application. The data used by students can also be monitored.

The delegation of Google for Education expressed interest in Punjab government's first official autism school project. Most of the related issues including research and innovation in schools were also discussed in the meeting.

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz also briefed the Google team about Punjab government's IT initiatives. “Punjab Government is committed to working with Google for Education for the improvement of education system in the province,” she said.