Workshop on Piloting the OBOR Fusion of Civilization Education (FoCEd) Curriculum held in Nanning, China

Go Back

A workshop for teachers on pilot testing of Fusion of Civilization Education (FoCEd) School Curriculum was held in Nanning, China on 25-29 Sept 2019 during the 3rd Teenager Maker Camp and Teacher Workshop (24-29 Sept). The curriculum experts and teachers from China, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand attended the workshop. The aim of the workshop was to train the participants on piloting of FoCEd Curriculum along with the national Curriculum in respective countries along the belt and road. So far, the curriculum for promotion of global peace and harmony is being pilot tested in 18 schools across China and will be tested in 10 schools in Malaysia; four schools in Indonesia, two schools in Pakistan and possibly in 1-2 schools in Tunisia and the National Science Museum of Thailand.

During the workshop, presentations on various units of the Curriculum were made and hands on activities were performed. The workshop was informed that piloting of the Curriculum has already begun in China and Pakistan. The experts from China and Pakistan also shared their feedback of piloting in the class which was greatly appreciated. Based upon the feedback, some revisions were proposed in the Curriculum.

The experts/teachers also visited a school in Nanning where piloting of FoCEd Curriculum is being done. The participants were very excited to witness the piloting of the Curriculum and found it remarkable, the way teacher taught the units of it. The students were also very responsive on the curriculum.

It is pertinent to mention that the development of this curriculum for “Global Peace & Harmony” was initiated in 2017 under the auspices of InterAcademy Partinership Science Education Programme (IAP SEP) and undertaken by the Children and Youth Science Centre of China Association for Science and Technology (CYSCC), ECOSF and the International Science, Technology and Innovation Centre (ISTIC) Malaysia. The Draft Curriculum was worked out by experts from China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan by the end of 2018. The FoCEd aims to promote tolerance and respect of other cultures and traditions through understanding of current scientific knowledge and discoveries driven from ancient wisdom to inculcate global peace and harmony among children at earliest possible age.

FoCEd Piloting Strategy:

A meeting between the leaders of the Curriculum development namely Prof. Manzoor H. Soomro of ECOSF, Dato Dr. Sharifa Mamunah of ISTIC Malaysia, Dr. ZHU He of CAST China, Dr. Inderjani of Indonesia and Dr. Ye Zhaoning of China was held to discuss the strategy for piloting of the curriculum, feedback and consequent revision. Subsequent implementation strategy and scaling up implementation in other countries along belt and road was also discussed.

It was agreed in principle that:

• At least two units of curriculum be piloted in each school
• The Curriculum is multidisciplinary in nature covering history, geography, science, engineering, technology, arts and culture. Thus, though ideally, single teachers should teach it; however, initially a team of teachers from above different disciplines might be required to work together.
• Supply of kits/materials would be needed and CYSCC/CAST China would look into the possibility of bearing the costs
• It was agreed that impact assessment of the curriculum would be required for furtherance and scaling up of the final Curriculum. Thus efforts would be made to undertake a “Baseline” study and a subsequent impact assessment by expert social scientists/pedagogy researchers. It was agreed that all participants of the meeting would look into the possibility of interest and availability of such experts/researchers in their home countries.