ECO Science Foundation supports High School Summer Science Research Programme (HSSSRP) in Pakistan
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ISLAMABAD (March 19, 2014): The ECO Science Foundation (ECOSF) promotes the science education and research culture in the ECO region and will continue to support the initiative of High School Summer Science Research Programme (HSSSRP) in Pakistan by the Pakistan Society of Computer Science/Biological Science, said Prof. Dr. Manzoor Hussain Soomro while chairing the programme meeting at SEECS- National University of Science and Technology (NUST) the other day.
Others who also promote science and research at school level and joined the meeting included; Prof. Dr. G. Raza Bhatti, Director of Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC), Shah Abdul Latif University- Khairpur, Dr. Syed Nasir Mehmood Shah from National Centre for Physics, Dr. Sohail Iqbal and others from SEECS-NUST. Syeda Khadija Bashir joined the meeting on behalf of Intel- Pakistan. While Dr. Shahid Qamar, the brain behind the project, joined the meeting through skype from his lab in USA.
The meeting began with the name of Allah and Dr. Nasir Mehmood briefly highlighted the Society's activities undertaken (Conferences; Workshops and High School Science Research Project) during the year 2013. Afterwards, Dr. Shahid Qamar joined the meeting through skype from his lab in USA and spoke about the aims, objectives and plans of the new HSSSR Project. He explained that a schedule will be announced for training workshop of high school students by the active senior and young scientists from the platform of Pakistan Society for Computer and Biological Sciences.
Next, Ms. Syeda Khadija Bashir from Intel-Pakistan explained the annual National Science Fair for Secondary and Higher Secondary school children being organized by Intel-Pakistan for the last 10 years. The Intel Science Fair has been organized in collaboration with Pakistan Science Foundation and Ministries of Science & Technology and Education as well as the provincial Education Departments. However, for the last two years, the Fair is being directed by Prof. Dr. Manzoor H. Soomro; thus he encouraged Intel-Pakistan to also join HSSSRP to promote synergies and to strengthen the culture of cooperation and collaboration. It may be pointed out that the Grand Winners of National Science Fair are taken by Intel to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel-ISEF) organized in USA every year.
After a thorough discussion it was agreed that all collaborators will work together to implement the next HSSSRP and promote synergies to provide for more complementarities. It was therefore agreed that Intel Pakistan and partners will continue their activity as per their schedule and the Pakistan Society of Computer Science/Biological Science (PSCS/BS) would collaborate with INTEL-Pakistan for arranging orientation sessions to introduce new projects with innovative ideas to High School Students and Teachers. Society would also provide domain experts for orientation sessions at Divisional/Provincial and National Level. The students trained in HSSSRP by PSCB/BS in the year 2014 would compete in INTEL Science and Engineering Fair 2015. In that way the school children will be groomed and mentored consistently for competitions worldwide.
Prof. Dr. Raza Bhatti highly appreciated the volunteer efforts of the partners, the Intel-Pakistan, SEECS-NUST, National Centre for Physics and the ECO Science Foundation for promoting a culture of inquiry and research at high school level.
Prof. Dr. Soomro while concluding the meeting said that he is proponent of cooperation and collaboration and will continue to do so. He said that ECO Science Foundation is also promoting Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE) at school level in the ECO Region in collaboration with International partners such as; International Science, Technology and Innovation Centre (ISTIC), Kuala Lumpur- Malaysia and La a main a la pate Foundation of France, and will continue to support the High School Summer Science Research Programme (HSSSRP) in Pakistan.