PESHAWAR: The two-day science festival in Swat concluded on Thursday with a ray of hope for the aspiring future scientists.
The two-day science show was organised by Udhyaana, deputy commissioner office, district government, Swat Education Department and Pakistan Alliance for Maths and Science.
The premier festival, that captured the attention of children through various creative activities, witnessed a massive attendance of 13,500 students and science enthusiasts from more than 100 government schools. The exhibition was held at the Khadee Hall in Saidu Sharif.
Being the largest science festival held for students in Swat, the festival is a shining example for district governments across Pakistan who can replicate this model in their regions. The festival also witnessed a huge attendance science enthusiasts from various regions.
The youngest Nobel laureate and global activist for girls’ education, Malala Yousafzai also showed keen interest in the event. She took to Twitter telling the world how proud she was of the girls of her hometown for participating in the education festival.
Such events are especially important in rural areas of the country to familiarise school administrations, teachers, and students with unique ways to teach and understand basic science concepts in an interesting and engaging manner.
Additional Deputy Commissioner General of Faisalabad Khalid Farooka also attended the festival and met with his counterparts in Swat to discuss inter-provincial coordination and other practices for upcoming Faisalabad Science Festival in May.
Students from all over Swat district participated in the festival, setting up over 150 stalls to showcase their creative exhibits on different themes and aspects of science.
Many students had designed their models based on solutions required to fix Swat’s urgent problems such as road infrastructure, electricity supply, and water management.
During the closing ceremony, former MNA Bushra Gohar emphasised the need for local administrators to invest more in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, especially for girls and encouraged teachers and providers to help children explore various dimensions of science. She called for encouraging teachers and providers to help children explore various dimensions of science so that the solutions and models they presented at the forum could be implemented practically.
Udhyaana’s Dr Jawad Iqbal requested the government to provide teachers with the latest digital tools and training to help them improve their lesson planning.
Prizes were distributed to the school headmasters and students by Bushra Gohar, ex-MNA Jameela Ahmad and former provincial minister Wajid Ali Khan in five categories: primary, middle, high, higher-secondary and college.
The organisers also thanked the organisations to promote science including Pakistan Science Club, AZCorp, Numerica, Sabaq, Learn-o-Bots, and Stemmers. The annual festival, showcasing raw local talent, was a joint effort of Udhyaana, deputy commissioner office, the district government, Swat education department and Pakistan alliance for maths and science.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Swat Shahid Mehmood announced to establish science labs in all government schools of Swat and promised to arrange science festivals of this scale every year.
