TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION
Lahore: There is an increasing demand in the country for people who corner the market of sound knowledge of technology to solve the critical problems of technical sphere.
This fast growing demand has led to the creation of a number of colleges, departments and universities’ catering in this discipline by providing a specialized and structured degree program of technology based studies as this technical education is indispensable in the presence of current wake of revolutions being made up in the technical world, said by Ajmal Hussain Shah, Principal of Government College Technology, here on Saturday.
He further elaborated that the future career of students after ten years of schooling mainly depends upon the marks obtained by them in the matriculation examination. Fifty to sixty percent of the top merit students prefer to get admission in FSc to start their career as engineer and doctor. Among them hardly ten percent of students can get admission in professional studies i. e. engineering universities due to limited number of seats. The rest of eager students go for admission in private sector universities which mainly depends upon their affordability as the education in private sector universities is very expensive. But the percentage is changed in the last two years as now the students prefer to be technology specialist and so they want to get admission in information technology and other degrees related to this field.
The present conditions of Pakistan when its ideological and territorial boundaries are at harm, demanded some progress in agriculture and industrial areas but the recent years and revolutions have proved that the more a country is strong in technology the more it has chance to flourish. The need of the hour is to develop technical mind and skills so we can keep pace with the modern world.
He argued that the students of Pakistan need to study technology because the world if moving fast is this aspect as now the US is trying to develop hypersonic aircraft and is funding Defense Advanced Research Project Agency. These aircrafts are so fast that they can reach any location on earth within an hour and circle the earth at the equator within two hours. Moreover, the US (NASA) has also launched spacecraft Juno to probe Jupiter and in 2016 it will spend one year in a polar orbit around Jupiter and will send back the information about Jupiter’s magnetic and gravitational field. It will then sort out the valuable information about the planets formed from a molecular cloud about 4. 6 billion years ago.
Although the Principal didn’t elaborate on “ Government’s effort in the field of technology” but he shed light on the government that it has made amendments in the education system and they are worthy but still the country and its technology need much more attention. In situations where the world has made flying robots and K computers, Pakistan has yet to do a lot in the technology field for which the growing technical institutions and education system play a vital role. It does need high capital, skilled technicians and professional people to teach and perform experiments to enhance this field. Taking the challenge to make Pakistan a technically establish country is big but it will lead this country to an established economy.
The information technology instructor Nazrul Islam, Government College Technology, touched upon the importance of IT in education by saying that the computer world is ready to engulf us in software heaven. Some are eager to be dependent upon anything and everything while a few remain hesitant. They are afraid of this cyber world with its new, virtual reality and take it to be the faint and fleeting colours of man’s imagination. Who knows one of these days a solution will be found to all our socio-economic problems. May be we would take heed and save mankind from annihilation. It is this that encourages us at the threshold of our new lives.
He further explained that with the digital computer at the crux of these technical revolutions, the internet and the World Wide Web are among the primary drivers and the present youth is in the aura of these advancements.
“ what has made the big difference in recent years is not the fact that individuals computers have dramatically improved in their capabilities, but that all those information islands are being connected by digital highways made possible through the use of telecommunications infrastructure by computers, which largely explains why the internet and the WWW have begun to play such a significant role in our use of computers”.
He argued that information technology is affecting us as teachers, as individuals and as a society. Our options for education, entertainment, working and a variety of things that we do in our daily lives relating to government and society are radically changing due to developments in information technology. Today, when watching TV or reading a newspaper or magazine, it is impossible to miss coverage on seemingly diverse topics related to information technology- internet, World Wide Web, digital TV, online learning, corporate restructuring, wireless communication, tele-medicine and so on. All these innovation and changes may seem disconnected, yet they all share a common denominator, computers and information technology. The adjustments that we are observing and also experiencing are neither irrelevant nor insignificant. They may be as large as those due to the industrial revolution of the 1800’s, when changes in industrial operations moved people away from agriculture and village life onto cities and urban life. This is the information revolution.
He justified his argument about technical education by saying that Fujitsu has scored first place in International Supercomputing Conference by achieving a stunning speed of 8. 162 petaflops, leaving others lying in dust. The system employed 68, 544 CPUs to achieve an incredible 93% computer efficiency. So if we want to be apparent in the modern world we need to have the knowledge of every kind of technology and its possible only when we are educated in this field so which these days the colleges and universities are playing the major role. An educated person knows that in coming years the person with knowledge of technology will be successful because it’s the skill that enables one to understand the present world revolutions.
He concluded the discussion by explaining that But one cannot underestimate the fact that new millennium may not be all glory and greatness. In the past, man has developed, progressed and triumphed. But to some extent this has gone to his head, and he is blinded by the luster of success and power. It’s like taking one step forward and one backward. At one moment we hail the victories of man, at another, we wail the same achievements, crippling nature and his own survival.
The future, with its surprises and mysteries is opening new doors for us. In the coming years, we may look for untouched frontiers. This technological era may try to plunder other planets far off galaxies. This technology is something quaint and who knows canoeing on the crests and troughs of time, it might find the light, the knowledge and the sense of balance. Then it might transform this world into a safe, glorious place with a bright, singing reign of peace and happiness.