In July 2024, Pakistan’s Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training announced a plan to establish Emerging Technology Centres in 350 schools across Islamabad, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan. The initiative aimed to transform Pakistan into a global IT hub by equipping school children with cutting-edge skills in emerging technologies.
The plan described a two-tier system of physical facilities, staffed by trained tech fellows, that would introduce students to artificial intelligence, virtual reality, data analytics, STEM, entrepreneurship, and computer science. Nearly 20 months later, the project’s ground-level progress has not been publicly documented. Here is what was announced, what context has changed, and what to watch.
What Pakistan announced in 2024
The project would establish Emerging Technology Centres in 350 schools across Islamabad, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan, as part of the government’s strategic planning to strengthen its initiative to make Pakistan a global IT destination.
The project aimed at developing skills and capacity in the IT sector, preparing students for a digital future, enhancing Pakistan’s export and capability in the IT sector, and making Pakistan a global IT destination.
The initiative was directed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and fell under the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training.
Class A vs Class B facilities
The centres were designed as a two-tier system, each serving a different purpose.
Class A: co-working and advanced tech spaces
Class A facilities would provide state-of-the-art spaces for co-working and would also function as co-working spaces during off hours to address the challenges faced by freelancers and professionals locally.
This dual-use model aimed to maximize the return on infrastructure investment. During school hours, the spaces would serve students. After hours, they would open to local freelancers, remote workers, and IT professionals — particularly in underserved areas of AJK and GB where co-working infrastructure is minimal.
Class B: STEM and computer science in 320 schools
Class B facilities would provide STEM, entrepreneurship, and computer science education to 40,000 students in 320 middle and high schools.
Class B represents the mass-reach layer of the project. The target of 40,000 students across 320 schools implies an average of roughly 125 students per school benefiting from structured tech and entrepreneurship education.
The project would be executed by 175 highly trained Tech Fellows hired and trained by service providers through an open competitive process.
Read more: Pakistan launches pilot project to bring AI into classrooms, starting with grade 8
What technologies would students learn?
The centres would serve as a catalyst for introducing children to emerging technologies such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and data analytics, preparing them for the increasingly digital landscape they will encounter in their future endeavors.
Based on the original announcement and comparable programs, the planned curriculum areas include:
- Artificial intelligence (basic AI literacy and practical applications)
- Virtual reality (immersive learning and simulation-based education)
- Data analytics (data handling, visualization, and interpretation skills)
- STEM education (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)
- Entrepreneurship (business planning, startup thinking, problem-solving)
- Computer science (coding, programming logic, and software fundamentals)
The intended approach was not merely theoretical. Tech Fellows would deliver hands-on, project-based learning that connects classroom concepts to real-world applications.
Why funding context matters
The fiscal environment has shifted since the announcement. Overall public spending on education dropped to just 0.8 percent of GDP in FY 2024-25, and education-related expenditure during the first three quarters fell by nearly 29–30 percent.
The Higher Education Commission saw its development budget slashed by more than 35 percent — from Rs 61.11 billion to Rs 39.48 billion for fiscal year 2025–26.
On the IT side, the federal government proposed Rs 13.5 billion for ongoing IT and digital infrastructure projects in the PSDP for 2025-26. However, whether the 350-school ETC project received a specific allocation within this envelope could not be confirmed from available documents.
A project of this scale — 350 schools, equipment procurement, facility upgrades, and 175 salaried Tech Fellows — requires sustained funding across multiple fiscal years. Budget cuts and delays in fund release are the most common reasons federal education infrastructure projects stall in Pakistan.
The bigger pipeline: HEC centres and CPEC labs
The school-level Emerging Technology Centres do not exist in isolation. They connect to a broader federal strategy that includes higher-education and international cooperation tracks.
At the university level, an endowment fund of Rs 500 million has been approved for each of the four HEC Centres of Emerging Technologies — the National Centre for Cyber Security (NCCS), the National Centre for Robotics and Automation (NCRA), the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence (NCAI), and the National Centre for Big Data and Cloud Computing (NCBC).
These centres operate at leading universities and are meant to drive research, industry linkages, and talent pipelines in their respective fields. School-level ETCs, if implemented, would feed students into this pipeline by building foundational tech literacy at the middle and high school level.
On the international front, Pakistan and China exchanged views on supporting Pakistan in establishing a telecommunication research center, as well as emerging technology and hardware laboratories6 during CPEC discussions in late 2025. This signals that the federal government continues to pursue institutional infrastructure for emerging tech — though whether it connects to the 350-school plan specifically remains unclear.
What to watch next
The 350-school Emerging Technology Centres plan has a sound design on paper: two tiers, dual-use facilities, trained fellows, and a clear focus on AI, VR, and data skills for middle and high school students.
Three things will determine whether the plan becomes reality:
- PSDP line-item confirmation. Until the project appears as a funded line item in the PSDP with an allocation and spending track, it remains a planning-stage initiative. Readers should watch for the Ministry of Education’s allocation in the next budget cycle.
- Procurement and hiring. The 175 Tech Fellows model requires open recruitment, training, and deployment. Procurement of VR equipment, computing labs, and networking infrastructure for 350 schools is a significant logistics exercise. Any public tenders would signal real progress.
- Pilot before scale. Given fiscal constraints, the most realistic path may be a phased rollout — starting with a smaller number of schools in Islamabad before expanding to AJK and GB. Watching for a “Phase 1” announcement would be more informative than waiting for the full 350-school target.
Pakistan’s broader direction — from CPEC emerging tech cooperation to HEC national centres to provincial digital education investments — shows genuine momentum on the technology education front. But for the specific 350-school plan, the gap between announcement and execution remains the defining story.