Thread by @sophiaahmed

These are some of the #education projects that I love.

Khudkaar run by @wardahn00r
(Digital skills school in Layyah, Punjab)

@sciencefuse I'm working with them i small way to fund something I love

@atomcamp & some of its science led programs. I see what they're trying to do.

The excellent experience I had early last year on @fatimarizwan led platform @airschoolonline is another education startup to keep a keen eye on.

There's @wardah 's UrduHour where she teaches diaspora children to converse in Urdu, looking to bridge the urdu/English divide

There's are so many individual endeavours like @gigglypundit creative writing course or @amnachaudhry03 writing course.

All beautiful interventions hoping to keep us curious.

Then @Cheese_Pakora adventures into the mountains.

These are all lovely minds, please support them

Ofcourse there's @SABAQPakistan and Fahad's Aghaaz school in Limogoth, Karachi who loves to teach his students science.

The skill centre in Baldia run by @MariaTaqdees that does great work.

I love to support individuals who understand how learning can be the push we all need.

My heart beats for #khel & the great work done by @imkaanwelfare under @taherahasan

Let's be available, create opportunities around us, for the little & big projects, scale up & deliver.

Another project to follow is @MathsSciencePK under Salman & the good fellows under @khadijashahperb for @teachforpak

There's @RaajiTheChatbot that teaches about women hygiene & related information.

When we have all these smart individuals around us, should we ever lose hope?

In my experience supporting these projects has never failed.

Paying someone to buy books, take a course, attend a semester, access school transport, attend a conference locally or abroad, buy a device pushes us all forward.

Some of these projects are still going years later.

The learnings never leave. They become embedded in us. We often say outcome missed its mark.

They enter our dna, the learners put them in use within their networks & this light passes on in perpetuity.

But you cannot discuss perpetuity & not mention @rebootdude & all his work.

There's @AsraNotes & @FaizaYousuf both trainers & coaches.

Play your part in being life long learners and creating pathways for those journeys for others.

Let's learn to give without the ROI & measure intrinsic soft value based returns.

Learn to value the magic you let lose.

But then there the conversations people hold, content they create, which is knowledgeable, laden with experience.

@babushka99 @rebootdude @faizansiddiqi are someone to follow.

I also admire the book work being created by @microMAF & you must follow his work.

If you're into podcasts then you must listen to the conversations @manihammad creates.

Diverse, some touching our core.

Why not support such voices?
Why just follow the herd?

In 20 years of philanthropy, education has been a vertical I carry within me.

Its not that I don't run out of funds & cannot give a scholarship but I do try my best to find new creators & lovers of learning.

I believe in the potential of online learning & immense opportunity

#edtech brings. Good quality content, affordability & access to preloaded or online lessons is the game changer we need.

It will be an improvement on the lessons delivered by poor quality teachers & maybe the solution to our 22mn out of school children if done alongside

Other interventions.

There are no easy solutions but the roadmap to Pakistan being able to prosper lies in its ability to utilise its youth bulge effectively till 2047.

Education & skill dev are at the core of being able to give our children a better future.

The solutions are

Not with 50 year old educationists & policy makers, but 20 yr old coders, and readers, & creators, with gamers & tinkerers, with knowledge leaders steeped in historical knowledge of art & culture like @ZMDesignStudio & with immersive experience

Creators like Baneem who curates holidays at Khanabadosh baithak in Gulkin & allows the senses to refuel & reimagine a new way to exist.

We cannot limit education to book knowledge or something we pick in a course. Planting a tree, something that most urban city children may

Never do is learning. Caring, nurturing, watching it grow brings immense learning.

We need to go back to nature, to our ancient culture & sciences to be able to draw on those experiences.

History is not a study of events but a study of culture of creativity & innovation

This I feel is something we lost post partition in Pakistan.

We stopped viewing culture as learning, as part of an ecosystem of existence. The monuments of the past today are glorified for military might but not as a a testament to creativity.

I feel this disconnect hurts our intellectual discourse deeply.
Philosophy & social sciences, history & culture are closely interlinked to science & languages.

We cannot create a future without understanding our past & drawing from that knowledge.

We remain beggars to a

Foreign acquired knowledge without localising it.

Even the language we teach is, is alien to the children. If we cannot understand each other, how will we learn.

I look towards the 20 somethings to accept how imp they are today. There interventions will impact how Pakistan

Will be in another 40/60 years.

Stop running after traditional jobs, instead innovate to add value to those roles.

We need researchers, writers, sport trainers, adventurers & dreamers.

Look to the soil, the seas, the skies, the mountains & the answers to the future lie there.

Pledge to seek more knowledge, reach out to people you admire, and seek their support & mentorship. They might hold you to a high standard for their time but you'll benefit.

The power I feel by being part of an interconnected world keeps me going.

Relationships you invest in

Honestly keep on giving honestly.
They provide a shelter, an impetus & a base, sometimes without asking.

@MizNaQ is someone who gives of her time & just today was leading a conversation that had so much for me & a member of my team.

Value others that know more than you

They have years of experience & you can see how quietly they are nudging you.

If you're interested in the ecosystem then do read @sheryhydri's posts.

Invest your future with people who have knowledge to give. Learn to build of that.

Imagining a future means a livable reality.

Inclusive. Fast evolving but sustainable. Culturally cohesive at the same time shining a light on individuals.

Building character. Celebrating integrity not wealth metrics.

We need educators & thinkers that viciously undo our culture of over consumption.

That create sustainable, climate friendly transportation, livable cities for children & women, close vertical centers, allowing mothers to have access to employment and be close to their children

We want our education sector to give our future thinkers the tools to imagine an ethical life. Our teachers need to respect nature & animals & inculcate a love for all beings.

Poor teaching tools have kept us back decades. Lets ask our educators to give us innovative tools to

Change our teachers.

How we learn from today changes our future.

If we can fund an education project, upskill a teacher, pay a course fee we change narratives.

Do you understand how transformational education can be for Pakistan.

What will you do from today to do your bit?

What are some art led projects that I should know?

Also who is in digital art, multimedia, illustration, painter/teacher

Same in music & dance.

Education must include every expression & feeling to be holistic. We need to embed a love of creativity through different art forms

Edtech has an opportunity in Pakistan like never before.

But more than numbers of app downloads they must have curriculum rigor, ease of language & understanding & simplicity.

Penetration must include more income tiers. Device distribution plays a huge role, as does #bnpl

Will we see preloaded lessons?

Flooding markets with content will not lead to value for students unless the head of content has the interests of the learners at the heart.

Edtech can solve our quality issue but it must be from a place of empathy & not investor led.

The @amal_academy fellowships are filling gaps & making grads interview ready & something @rozeepk_jobs has started doing is upskilling people in different coding/digital skills.

There's a lot happening, the gap is in access to quality & opportunities.

In the absence of an

An equitable & fair system, the barriers to access become insurmountable.

That challenge tech can solve. Good quality technologically delivered education & access to jobs locally in the tech sector.