The 1st Belt and Road Teenager Maker Camp & Teacher Workshop organized by CYSC-CAST, ECOSF a Major Cooperator

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The first “Belt and Road Teenager Maker Camp & Teacher Workshop”was organized on December 17-22, 2017 at the No 35Beijing High School. The event was jointly organized by Children and Youth Science Centre of China Association (CYSC) of Science and Technology (CAST), Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) of P.R. China and supported byECO Science Foundation (ECOSF), InterAcadmy Partnership Science Education Programme (IAP SEP) and Academy of Engineering and Technology of the Developing World (AETDEW). The theme of this event was "Thinking & Making and was jointly opened by the leadership of CAST, MoST, ECOSF and AETDEW by an innovative way of highlighting the board (as seen below).

There were 118 students/teenagers and teachers/coordinators (students-74 + teachers/coordinators-44) from 16 countries on 4 continents. Among the 16 countries, four were from ECO region viz. Iran, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Turkey, all with the efforts of ECOSF. ECOSF was represented by President ECOSF and Assistant Director (Admin & Programmes). The number of participants from ECO countries was 42(27 students and 11teachers/coordinators; the breakdown is given below:

Professor .Xu Yanhao, the Vice President and Executive Secretary of China Association for Science and Technology, in his remarks on the occasion, appreciated the large number of participants from diverse countries. He thanked ECOSFand its President Soomro and AETDEW and its President Professor Lee for being partners of the event and hoped that the event would bring some healthy scientific activities coupled with latest technologies and cultural integration along the Belt and Road. He appreciated the idea of ECOSF to conduct the event annually and pledged the support of his institution for the noble cause.

Earlier, the Principal of the School No. 35 Beijing welcomed the participants. Afterwards, Prof. Manzoor H. Soomroin his opening remarks appreciated and congratulated CYSC, CAST, Ministry of Science and Technology of China, IAP-SEP and AETDEW for organizing this wonderful and magnificent  event; “Belt and Road Teenager Maker Camp and Teacher Workshop” in Beijing, China. He also expressed his deepest thanks to the leadership of CYSC and IAP SEP for bringing together teams of brilliant students and passionate teachers from over sixteen different countries along the One Belt and One Road (OBOR). He further said the Camp and Workshop was a great opportunity for all of us to strengthen further our cooperation and deliberate on the way forward to achieve the desired goals of “Belt and Road” initiative. He believed that our partnership of ECOSF with CYSC, CAST and IAP SEP is strategic to promote regional integration along the ancient Silk Route which includes all ECO member countries. The ECO region has a great potential to be harnessed by developing effective collaborative linkages with China to promote scientific & technological research and cultural integration among the 10 member states of ECOSF. He shared that CYSC and CAST has mutually agreed upon request made by ECOSF to institutionalize and hold this eventannually under the Belt and Road initiative of CYSC CAST. He further shared that ECOSF is collaborating with IAP SEP, CYSC, CAST and other partners for developing a science curriculum based on “Fusion of Civilizations”. He once again thanked to all partners and participants.

Dato Lee Yee Cheong, the Founder President of Academy of Engineering and Technology for the Developing World (AETDEW) also graced the occasion with his remarks and thanked the organizers and partners i.e. CYSC, CAST, Ministry of Science and Technology of China, ECOSF and other partners and supporters for organizing the very important event. In his remarks, he further said that young children are the future and investing on them is to save the future and make it more bright and prosperous. He pledged the support of AETDEW and IAP SEP to make this camp and workshop more vibrant and fruitful.

The opening ceremony was also attended by the Ambassador/officials from participating countries and other officials from SYSC/CAST.

During the event, teenage students visited and did some activities inthe 10 science and technology laboratories of the No. 35High School in Beijing. Under the guidance of the School tutors, they organized scientific research activities such as bridge and model design and production, intelligent robot learning and utilized their imagination and creativity. Very beautiful models of the projects i.e. robots, bridges, drones and others were prepared by the students during the intensive lab work. All materials required for making the projects were provided to the students and teachers.

To familiarize with the culture and scientific development of China, the visits of Forbidden City, China Science and Technology Museum and Nanluoguxiang and other places were also arranged which were greatly admired by the participants who enjoyed very much and gained a better understanding of the rapid development of science and technology in China.

On 1^st day (17^thDec) evening, a welcome dinner with colourful cultural show was

Organized wherein all the participating students presented their cultural/traditional dresses and folklore music/skits. On the last day of the workshop, the students presented their designs/models through PowerPoint presentations and physical models. A jury of judges comprising of teachers from all participating countries was constituted, who evaluated those projects. The jury selected the best teams in the categories of Best Maker, Best Presentation and Best Team Work. 

An impressive closing ceremony along with a Banquet was also organized on the evening of 21 December 2017 and students/teenagers were awarded with certificates and medals in different categories.

Following are some glimpses of the camp/workshop:

The outcome of the camp was very encouraging as students seemed very happy and became familiar with other fellows from 16 different countries, which would greatly impact upon their personalities and confidence to become the leaders of future.

The camp and workshop ended successfully with the aim to organize it on annual basis.