World Digital Conference

 

^{World Digital Conference}

 

^{On the morning of Tuesday, May 14, we were taken by car to the conference hall adjacent to the hotel. It was May 2026. Political leaders and education experts from all over the world had gathered in the famous city of Hangzhou, China.}

^{It was a wonderful, huge conference, in which the future of digital education was being discussed. Our seat was in the front row. In addition to tea, etc., there was a translation device on the table in front. It was converting Chinese into English. Here, the word would be completed, the sentence would be completed, and its translation into English and Chinese would be written automatically on the screen at high speed.}

^{Here, my attention was drawn to an ordinary school classroom. Where, exactly the same old building, the same simple chairs and tables. But as the scene began to make sense, it felt like the door to a new world had opened. There were small innocent children sitting there and they were asking questions in their native language, uninvolved with their copies and books. There was that great sparkle in their eyes that a child who has discovered something new has in their eyes.}

^{The surprising thing was that as soon as they asked questions, the answers to their questions would immediately appear on the screen. In videos, images, and simple, interesting language that they could understand. The one who prepared these answers was not a teacher, but an artificial intelligence that they were calling ‘Science Companion’. This was a living, breathing project of a living nation, ‘Science Leading Hangzhou’. I was wondering, struck by negligence, what the map of this world would be like tomorrow.}

^{Let’s see if this was a sudden scene. No, this well-thought-out project initially started as an experiment with just 22 schools. Who would have believed that AI artificial intelligence could blend in with children so easily. But after seeing the results, my eyes were wide open, the fatigue of the journey and sleepiness had fled. This project is running in 180 schools there today. This is not a hypothesis or an idea. These are facts drawn from the interpretation of a dream.}

^{These children have asked more than four hundred and twenty thousand questions so far. This number is so large that if you read each question in one minute, it would take you a full eight months. And the statistics don’t stop there. 97 percent of teachers surveyed want to make this system a part of their daily teaching. Teachers themselves spent more than 9,200 hours preparing lessons using AI, and more than 1,640 hours teaching with AI. These figures are not dumb, but they are screaming that the new system is working and doing well.}

^{I was wondering what the secret of this system is? I offer you what I understand. This secret of the fast-paced world of China can be understood in three parts. In the first part, the child asks a question, the AI ​​answers. No complicated keyboard, no fear of grammatical errors. The child asks the question that comes to his mind, just like he asks his mother. In the second part, when the child wants to see an experiment, the AI ​​opens a virtual lab in front of him. There plants grow, stars spin, chemical compounds are formed and decomposed. No head, no expense, all this without any risk and without any money. In the third part, when the child goes home from school, the AI ​​is present in his mobile phone. It reminds him that here is more detail about what you asked in class today. Thus, education continues 24 hours a day. This is the three-star formula that made Hangzhou a surprise for a novice like me and an example for delegates from all over the world.}

^{The greatest advantage of the dream is that it is not expensive. Like me, you may be thinking that AI means devices worth millions of rupees, that means big screens, that means experts who give commands in English. No. Hangzhou proved that a simple tablet, a cheap microphone and a normal internet connection are enough. Most importantly, it has not made the teacher unemployed, but has lightened the burden from his shoulders, so to speak. Now, instead of spending hours on a computer preparing lectures, the teacher can sit with the students and guide them. Therefore, according to the survey, 97 percent of the teachers expressed their desire to adopt it.}

^{When this project was presented at the World Digital Education Conference in Hangzhou in 2026, it was included in the world's ten best case studies. I was very impressed by the delegates from all over the world. Undoubtedly, this model can be a ray of hope for resource-poor countries, and this is where this story connects to our country Pakistan. Because even in the poor areas of our country, there are millions of children who want to ask questions, but there is no one to answer them. There is a shortage of science teachers, laboratories, and often even basic facilities like electricity and internet are difficult to find.}

^{This model is a hope that if we want, we can do it too. A simple tablet, a few cheap devices, and AI software developed at once, that's all it takes. Then those children who are memorizing science books today without understanding them, tomorrow will learn to ask questions and find answers on their own.}

^{This is not a dream, it has become a reality, where an ordinary school child is asking AI today, ‘Why is the sky blue?’ And it is not far off that tomorrow the same child may discover a new star. We have millions of such children, with the same sparkle in their eyes. All we need is an opportunity, a simple technology and the belief that the future of education is not just in expensive schools but}