Quaid-e-Azam Academy for Educational Development (QAED), under the School Education department, Government of Punjab, is a premier ISO certified teacher training institution that takes the lead in implementing the Single National Curriculum for Primary to Higher secondary schools. Backed by the Government, the Pakistan-based organization empowers 368,000 private and public teachers with future skills, preparing them for the new framework via Microsoft Teams. The tool helps QAED train more teachers faster and differentiate classes, which has improved the quality of instruction while reducing on-site training expenditures.
April 07, 2022
QAED, School Education Department, Government of Punjab, supports remote training and collaboration with Microsoft Teams
Quaid-e-Azam Academy for Educational Development (QAED), under the School Education Department of the Government of Punjab Pakistan, is a premium ISO certified training institution catering to hundreds of thousands Primary to Higher secondary school teachers and educational managers across the Pakistani province of Punjab. When the pandemic started, the organization lacked the tools to handle all training online. This included the preparation for a new Single National Curriculum (SNC) as well which was about to come into force soon. They were trying out different platforms for uploading training materials, recording lectures and sessions, and communicating across the organizations regarding schedules and announcements. To address the virtual training challenges during the core COVID-19 period, QAED needed to digitize the whole process. “Because of a strict deadline of the curriculum framework of SNC especially, we wouldn’t have been able to deliver on-site training for so many teachers on time otherwise” explains Ayesha Karim, Chief of Research, Innovation & IT at QAED.
Rolling out a more efficient education system
Before the pandemic, all training sessions were conducted in person. But as COVID-19 restrictions precluded all face-to-face meetings, QAED adopted several digital tools to continue the sessions. “We juggled different tools and accounts, which led to management hassle,” says Ayesha. “Besides, they were more suited for individual than enterprise use.” To scale online education effectively, Muhammad Ali Ammer, the Director-General at QAED, initiated the digital transformation journey with Microsoft Teams.
To familiarize users with the new platform, QAED introduced its own training program. “It’s called The 21st Century Digital Skills and focuses entirely on Microsoft 365 products, starting with Teams,” says Ayesha.
With the help of technology partner Jaffer Business Systems (JBS), the organization trained 72 internal instructors who would then help other teachers get familiar with Microsoft Teams. Once that's done, all of them will undergo the training in the curriculum updates. "In the next four to six months, we want to roll out the training for 368,000 people," Ayesha explains.
To familiarize users with the new platform, QAED introduced its own training program. “It’s called The 21st Century Digital Skills and focuses entirely on Microsoft 365 products, starting with Teams,” says Ayesha.
With the help of technology partner Jaffer Business Systems (JBS), the organization trained 72 internal instructors who would then help other teachers get familiar with Microsoft Teams. Once that's done, all of them will undergo the training in the curriculum updates. "In the next four to six months, we want to roll out the training for 368,000 people," Ayesha explains.
Dedicated for educational institutions, Teams offers the classroom feature that brings real-life interactions online. Also, thanks to smooth integration with other software, teachers and QAED's personnel can access all the tools they need with a single sign-in. "We can seamlessly share files and recordings in OneDrive, communicate on Teams, and collect teachers’ feedback with Microsoft Forms," explains Muhammad Ali Ammer. "There is no need to switch login screens and remember passwords. We can now manage things easily and quickly."
With the cloud-based solution, qualified trainers from remote regions can continue training teachers to improve the instruction quality. In addition, by moving training capabilities online, QAED has significantly increased capacity and saved costs. "We can arrange four to eight classes simultaneously," confirms Ayesha. “By switching to online education, we expect to significantly reduce overhead costs and make sizeable savings on training licenses.”
To date, 368 000 teachers of Punjab use Microsoft 365 to collaborate and transfer knowledge. Microsoft Teams has become an official communication and training platform for implementing the Single National Curriculum across the Punjab province. Moreover, QAED uses Teams to equip teachers with modern teaching skills and provide continuous training subjects.
QAED's success in leading the digital change was recognized by the Education Minister Punjab as well who'd like every student in the country to use digital technology. "We want to extend digital learning to almost 15 million kids in Punjab," reveals Muhammad Ali Ammer. "And we are working closely with the government on the strategy." QAED also plans to integrate more tools to Microsoft Teams, such as Power BI to leverage analytics. "Being on this journey with Microsoft has been a wonderful experience. We are still in the process of planning all our training in this virtual world," sums up Muhammad Ali Ammer.
With the cloud-based solution, qualified trainers from remote regions can continue training teachers to improve the instruction quality. In addition, by moving training capabilities online, QAED has significantly increased capacity and saved costs. "We can arrange four to eight classes simultaneously," confirms Ayesha. “By switching to online education, we expect to significantly reduce overhead costs and make sizeable savings on training licenses.”
To date, 368 000 teachers of Punjab use Microsoft 365 to collaborate and transfer knowledge. Microsoft Teams has become an official communication and training platform for implementing the Single National Curriculum across the Punjab province. Moreover, QAED uses Teams to equip teachers with modern teaching skills and provide continuous training subjects.
QAED's success in leading the digital change was recognized by the Education Minister Punjab as well who'd like every student in the country to use digital technology. "We want to extend digital learning to almost 15 million kids in Punjab," reveals Muhammad Ali Ammer. "And we are working closely with the government on the strategy." QAED also plans to integrate more tools to Microsoft Teams, such as Power BI to leverage analytics. "Being on this journey with Microsoft has been a wonderful experience. We are still in the process of planning all our training in this virtual world," sums up Muhammad Ali Ammer.
“We can seamlessly share files and recordings in OneDrive, communicate on Teams, and collect teachers’ feedback with Microsoft Forms. There’s no need to switch login screens or remember passwords. We can now manage things easily and quickly.”
Muhammad Ali Ammer, Director General, QAED
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