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I am forwarding this message on Don's behalf. Please reply to his address
and not mine.
Don Richardson

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 1995 02:35:08 -0500
From: don@mihikata.demon.co.uk


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Education for the disadvantaged

by Don de Silva

For the majority of the people in the world, the information
superhighway is no more than a by-pass. But an innovative
computer network  to facilitate education  among disadvantaged
established  in Pakistan demonstrates that this need not be the case.
Entitled EDUNET, it is the first programme of its kind in South Asia.

Based in Lahore, EDUNET is managed by a small team of dedicated
educators and computer specialists in Pakistan  and has been created with
the assistance of  the United Nations Development Programme's  Sustainable
 Development
Networking Programme (SDNP).

EDUNET started its operations early this year  in Lahore and links a
number of  state schools among disadvantaged communities in the city.

EDUNET's partner organisation, Alif Laila, another innovative
education institute,  also based in Lahore, has been providing computer
training for children from disadvantaged communities for the past several years.

Through EDUNET, users  can  participate in discussion forums and
conferences in either Urdu or English, and access massive database
containing information on variety of issues.  EDUNET carries  weekly
journals on computer technology and mailing lists of organisations
concerned with development issues.  Users can also download shareware
computer programmes.

In addition to these services, EDUNET  offers electronic mail and
and access to several newsgroups throughout Pakistan. Through the
Internet services of UNDP's SDNP,  users can access  worldwide e-mail
facilities.

There are heated debates  in some of EDUNET's discussion forums.
Among the most popular is the one on  the state of education in Pakistan.
Users can also suggest and create forums of  topical concern.

The  database contains masses of text and graphics covering many
disciplines. The database is indexed and  contains a brief
description of each article's placed on the service. A user can download
 relevant
material.

Since its main emphasis is  education, the database is designed
to be a source of teaching resource material for schools.  Teachers
can find up-to-date information on subjects taught at all school levels.
EDUNET has a number of computers running as Compact Disc (CD)
servers.  They contain reference sources, such as,  information and
encyclopaedias, atlases, literature collections and dictionaries.

Students raid the shareware programmes on  games.
Schools communicate and exchange experiences.  A user can tap into
mailing lists of resource persons on various issues and communicate
with a list member.

Midhat Kazim, founder of EDUNET, believes that computer technology
can be used to benefit the disadvantaged communities.

According to Midhat Kazim: "Only the financial elite of this country
are able to send their children to the better private schools and
the monetarily disadvantaged classes are left no choice but to either
leave their children illiterate or to have them 'educated' in
government and municipal schools."

"A lot of blame is put on teachers of Government  and municipal
corporation schools for not teaching properly and not performing
their duties honestly. It would be interesting to see how the people who
lay this blame would react when they themselves are put in a situation
where they have to teach non-stop, up to 6 periods a day to a class of
sometimes even a 100 bored and unruly children. After all, what
else would the children be, but  bored and unruly when there is
absolutely no mental stimulation in their class. For them, it is only
the rod and a string of abuses from a frustrated teacher."

EDUNET stirs the imagination of children to learn and gain knowledge.
At present, the Pakistan government spends large sums of money for
research to develop syllabi for government schools. Midhat Kazim believes that
EDUNET provides a channel for teachers throughout the country to pool
their resources and participate in developing syllabi and  relevant
teaching materials without totting up  huge costs.  Teachers can also easily
up-date the material when needed.

EDUNET blends will with Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's scheme to
provide computers to all government schools and make the information
highway accessible to Pakistan's general public.

Don de Silva
dondes@mihikata.demon.co.uk