Zindagi Trust has collaborated with KFC Mitao Bhook to help middle school girls develop coding and programming skills. This will add to their ability and capacity to enhanced skills in the field of technology and also equip them for them to pursue a promising career. Programming and coding is a deep ocean, the longer you work in this field, the more you learn and become capable of developing innovative technologies and programs that can change the face of modern marketing and ways of doing business. Coding is divided into different dimensions, there are languages that work at the backend that helps to develop the brain of a software application, and then the frontend that is the UI (User Interface) that allows the users to interact with the mobile and web applications. Exporting technology services is a multi billion dollar industry that can also help in contributing a large fraction to improve our economy.
In collaboration with KFC Mitao Bhook, Zindagi Trust is piloting a three-year Coding Program in their two adopted government schools- SMB Fatima Jinnah and Khatoon-e-Pakistan to equip students from grades 3 to 8 with digital programming tools and modern technologies. Over 1800 female students will be involved in the program in its tenure.
This Wednesday, September 7th 2022, Zindagi Trust hosted a panel discussion in their school and invited stakeholders from the tech industry in order to have a discussion around the importance of STEM Education and Coding in today’s digital world. Some of the notable speakers for the event included: Tanvir Maqsood- cofounder of TechnoKnowledge an organisation creating accessibility towards computational learning throughout Pakistan, Hamida Khatri- founder of the application called Teardrop that encourages women to share their stories of abuse which will help identify the disparity between the usage and collection of gendered data, Farah Ali; Co-founder of Pakistan Women In Computing (PWIC), and Raza Pirbhai-CEO KFC Pakistan alongside Shehzad Roy founder and president of Zindagi Trust.
At the occasion, Raza Pirbhai, CEO of KFC Pakistan highlighted the initiatives taken by KFC Mitao Bhook to bridge the literacy gap across Pakistan, which includes sponsoring and leading educational programs for thousands of students across all levels. He also noted the importance of developing programming and IT skills in Pakistan’s youth, to increase the country’s IT exports. Similarly, TechnoKnowledge’s co-founder Tanvir, shed light on the importance of learning how to code in the digital world of today and the different career trajectories one could pursue.
Aligning with Zindagi Trust’s vision of remodelling the educational landscape of Pakistan, founder Shehzad Roy shared that launching this program in government schools will be a step toward revolutionising STEM Education in Pakistan, he emphasized that transforming government schools is the only way toward causing a sustainable impact- “The main priority should be providing an enabling environment for students through revamping government schools. This is what Zindagi trust believes in and works tirelessly to accomplish. Once that environment is established it paves way for all sorts of programs to flourish within the educational ecosystem be it music, coding, mind sports and so on.”
To ensure standard execution of the program, Zindagi Trust has taken TechnoKnowledge on board to develop the program curriculum, scheme of studies alongside conducting training workshops for the teachers. In addition to providing books, lectures and curriculum templates, TechnoKnowledge will be training the teachers of Zindagi Trust and monitoring the performance of this program every 4 months. Previously, TechnoKnowledge has created a Coding curriculum framework for the Ministry of Education and provided curriculum design support for a coding project in KPK Pakistan that trained about 90,000 students and 30,000 teachers.
Joining virtually, Hamida Khatri shared her personal journey of working on tech-related projects that incorporate multiple disciplines such as art, storytelling and much more within the computational field.
Agreeing with Mr. Roy she highlighted “Providing that accessibility through an enabling environment is the key factor in harnessing growth. Personally, I feel my success comes from having access to the right mentorship and guidance.”
Farah Ali added to the discourse by highlighting the opportunities that such programs can bring about for women. “The tech-industry is very dynamic which leads to not only a versatile personal development but opens doors of remote work for women who might have restricted mobility due to their gender.” This coding program is KFC’s latest CSR Mitao Bhook’s initiative towards giving back to the community. The Mitao Bhook’s efforts focus on Education, Diversity, and Inclusion. Mitao Bhook is currently providing quality education to over 5,000 students across all educational levels in Pakistan and maintaining a 2500+ strong education-to-employment ecosystem for deaf individuals in the country. Implementing this program in the schools of Zindagi Trust will serve as an agent of change in STEM education in Pakistan all the while empowering women to lead the next generation of tech innovations.
