Room for investment: Education and then technology, says Intel chief

Country manager Siraj asks govt to set concrete goals and achieve them. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: 

Intel Corporation, a leader in silicon innovation, is keen to invest in Pakistan but is looking at the government to set concrete goals and focus on educating the masses before it takes that step.

This was stated by Intel Pakistan’s Country Manager Naveed Siraj in an exclusive interview with The Express Tribune.

The official believed that education should be the government’s priority, without which there would be less scope for Intel to invest in Pakistan.

“We would start the investment soon but the government needs to set goals — especially in the education sector,” said Siraj. “Look at China and India and see how far they have progressed.”

The Intel official spoke after the conclusion of Intel’s 10th annual National Science Fair in Islamabad on Wednesday, talking about his firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and about using “Information Technology (IT) as an accelerator for national growth.”

“Countries such as India and China where Intel has invested in wafer fabrication facilities in the recent past have a long history of investing in education. These countries also have a tradition of strong academia-industry linkages.”

Siraj stressed on education as a common denominator for all countries that have progressed, pointing out that a lesson was to be learnt from the examples. “Pakistan’s poor education indicators are a serious cause of concern but they also provide a premise for Intel to invest in the country’s education sector.”

This premise is reflected in Intel Pakistan’s CSR programmes which include teacher training, adult IT literacy and the annual US-based International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF), for which Pakistani students qualify through an elaborate series of local science fairs.

More recently, Intel Pakistan is focusing on “women empowerment and girls’ education” through its existing CSR projects, Siraj said.

“But, like most private-sector representatives, their efforts will eventually be limited to business objectives. The government will have to do the heavy lifting.

“The private sector needs to continue to invest and increasingly we see the government’s intention to speak with the private sector. But, in the end, it depends on whether the government sets the goals and achieves them.”

He said he was “cautiously optimistic” that the new government will try to improve economic indicators and drive investment.

“When the government starts delivering results, the IT sector would perhaps be the first movers for new investment.

“Technology can be leveraged to achieve education goals but there are some major impediments to technology use. From a Pakistani perspective, our biggest predicament is that a major segment of our population is deprived of devices due to lack of affordability. The lack of universal broadband access adds to the challenges.”

The Intel Pakistan chief said the official Universal Service Fund, which is dedicated for developing telecommunication infrastructure in “unserved and underserved areas,” needs to be made more effective. Similarly, broadband services needs to be pervasive and be offered at competitive prices, Siraj said.

‘Women, rural communities need to be invested in’

The official was of the opinion that the free laptop scheme for high-achieving students in Punjab, which drew criticism when it was first launched, was a step in the right direction with one caveat.

“But there needs to be subsidies for other segments of society especially women and rural communities. The government should keep on encouraging high-achiever students, but also incentivise a larger cross section of society to be able to afford devices.”

Intel-powered tablet PCs were introduced in the Pakistani market in 2013 and Siraj said the response has been “very interesting.” He said the tablet PCs could “have a transformational impact on device users in Pakistan in terms of computing, being able to connect and then get content.”

Device affordability and connectivity can also lead to use of unconventional learning methods, such as web-based learning and Massive Open Online Courses, in Pakistani schools to improve children’s analytical skills.

“All I am really interested in is that a particular teacher in, let’s say, Vehari is able to show online courses to students and preferably each student has an affordable device to follow the lesson.

“Such web-based courses can also be used to impart entrepreneurship skills to students and help them become job creators instead of job seekers, he said.

For the future, Siraj said the arrival of 3G services might open up avenues for technology investment in Pakistan. He said he believes the rural communities could also be a “game changer” for Pakistan’s future IT landscape.

“A lot of IT services are urban-oriented but our agriculture and farm-produce tasks are mostly done manually. Those processes can benefit tremendously from IT services