Editor Report
ISLAMABAD: Zong, Pakistan’s leading information technology innovator, has partnered with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to roll out the country’s first blockchain-based degree attestation system, marking a milestone in digital transformation.Leveraging the immense experience and technological expertise of its parent organization, China Mobile, Zong’s new system will replace legacy, paper-driven processes with a secure, transparent, and fully digital ecosystem.The platform ensures that academic records are 100% tamper-proof using the core strengths of blockchain; immutability, transparency, and decentralized security.This enables instant verification for employers and institutions globally, especially benefitting overseas Pakistanis. It will also eliminate the need for physical visits or long waiting times due to administrative delays. The technology will make this process seamless for over 6 million students and alumni, with approximately 400,000 students being added to this number each year.Speaking about the launch, Farooq Raza Khan, Executive Director & Country Head of Business Solutions at Zong, stated: “In collaboration with HEC, we are building a foundation of trust at scale. This is a first-of-its-kind project in the industry, and an apt demonstration of our capability to deliver complex, large-scale digital transformation. By utilizing blockchain, we provide a lifelong guarantee of authenticity, setting a new benchmark for digital public services that we intend to scale across the national landscape.”
This is not merely a vision for the future, but an active, phased implementation with development already underway. With the pilot rollout scheduled for the coming months, the project is designed for rapid scalability. While initially serving the education sector and integrating all of Pakistan’s higher education institutions into the system, the roadmap includes expanding this blockchain framework to other government organizations, solidifying Zong’s role as the digital backbone of the country.
