{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T03:24:30Z","timestamp":1760239470980,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,9]],"date-time":"2020-11-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1604880000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Information"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The study, through the lens of school principals\u2019 views, investigates the challenges and opportunities to formulate an information and communications technology (ICT) policy in order to integrate it in teaching and learning practices at the schools of mountainous rural areas of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). This quantitative research approach focuses on three different educational systems (Regional, National, and International), as a source of data collection, which operate in GB, Pakistan. To collect the required data, questionnaires with principals and policy document reviews were used. Applying SPSS, the data were analyzed. The results show that both groups (male and female) strongly agree to formulate a policy on ICT in order to integrate it in teaching and learning to improve at the school level. The results also show that the school heads face a number of challenges (e.g., lack of infrastructure, finance, Internet, technical staff, time, awareness, and training facilities, etc.) in the formulation of ICT policy and its integration in teaching and learning. The results revealed that the majority of the schools have an absence of ICT policy instead of having competent principals in those schools. Therefore, the research recommends that the school level ICT policy should be developed and integrated in teaching and learning practices to create an environment of powerful learning at schools, in order to fulfill the needs and demands of the 21st century education.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/info11110522","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,10]],"date-time":"2020-11-10T10:47:28Z","timestamp":1605005248000},"page":"522","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["The Challenges and Opportunities to Formulate and Integrate an Effective ICT Policy at Mountainous Rural Schools of Gilgit-Baltistan"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0213-1958","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sabit","family":"Rahim","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Sciences, Karakoram International University, Gilgit-Baltistan 15100, Pakistan"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7191-0608","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tehmina","family":"Bibi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Geology, University of Azad Jammu &amp; Kashmir, Muzaffarabad 13100, Pakistan"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1630-428X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sadruddin","family":"Bahadur Qutoshi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Educational Development, Karakoram International University, Gilgit-Baltistan 15100, Pakistan"}]},{"given":"Shehla","family":"Gul","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geography, University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25121, Pakistan"}]},{"given":"Yasmeen","family":"Gul","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Architecture and Design, Alghurair University, Dubai 37374, UAE"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1084-590X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Naveed Ali Khan Kaim","family":"Khani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Federal Urdu University of Arts Science and Technology Islamabad, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan"}]},{"given":"Muhammad Shahid","family":"Malik","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Sciences, Karakoram International University, Gilgit-Baltistan 15100, Pakistan"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"374","DOI":"10.1016\/j.procs.2010.12.063","article-title":"A comparison of the use of educational technology in the developed\/developing countries","volume":"3","author":"Hamidi","year":"2011","journal-title":"Procedia Comput. 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