Islamabad Hands-on STEM 3.0 Successfully Organized

Go Back

ECO Science Foundation (ECOSF), Pakistan Science Club (PSC) and Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) jointly successfully organized Islamabad Hands-on Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) Camp 3.0 from June 30 to July 4, 2024 at AIOU Main Campus. The registration of the students and young leaders from Islamabad and Rawalpindi were invited online, resulting in over 120 participants attending the camp. The theme of this year's camp was “NO CODE BOT,” focusing on developing and programming a robot without the use of computers or cellphones. The idea was amazing. The participants successfully built robots through manual programming, engaging in four sessions each day with new tasks related to the BOT.

On final day of the Camp, a closing ceremony was held wherein, the parents and relatives of the participating students were invited to attend the closing ceremony. The Closing Ceremony was also graced by the President ECOSF Prof. Dr. Seyed Komail Tayebi and Vice Chancellor of AIOU Prof. Dr. Nasir Mehmood. Prof. Dr. Manzoor H. Soomro, Advisor/Ex-President ECOSF attended as guest of honour.

At the closing session and on behalf of the Organizers, Dr. Tanveer Afzal welcomed all the distinguished participants, parents, young leaders/students for attending the Camp and the ceremony.

Mr. Abdul Rauf talked about the Camp and its activities in detail. He also highlighted outcome of the event. He thanked AIOU for hosting the amazing event in the main campus of AIOU.  Abdul Rauf and his team came from Karachi to conduct this camp. There are a lot of contributions of PSC towards promotion of scientific activities among the people especially children and students.

President ECOSF Prof. Seyed Komail Tayebi in his speech introduced the Foundation including the objectives, programs and activities. Then he talked about STEM education that provides opportunities to children and youth to explore, evaluate and develop new things to address the social issues through scientific methods. He added  investment in science leads to the development of a society and ultimately and economic growth of the country. The STEM develops critical thinking among the students and children which makes them good learners, decision makers and qualified scientists, added Prof. Tayebi. He expressed that more STEM activities should be organized to engage a large number of students so that maximum students can choose their careers as scientists. He thanked AIOU for hosting the event in the University and congratulated all the participants for their remarkable work during five day of the camp. He also appreciated the parents who nurture their children in the field of science. Without science, technology and innovation, no country can progress. He reiterated the commitment of ECOSF to promote STI leading to economic development in the ECO region.

Vice Chancellor AIOU Prof. Dr. Nasir Mehmood, in his speech said that it is the honor for AIOU to host such events which engage children and students especially with focus on science education. The children/students are our future, thus, it is our duty to equip them with quality education, they can make the future more secure and prosperous, expressed by the VC. He promised that in collaboration with ECOSF, a resource center equipped with IBSE materials and facilities will be developed at the University so that such activities in the future can be arranged in that center. 

The ceremony was concluded by Dr. Soomro. In his concluding remarks, Dr. Soomro appreciated all the organizers, volunteers and other people who made the event a success. It is pertinent to mention that Dr. Soomro is the pioneer of these kinds of Camps when he was President ECOSF. ECOSF and PSC developed collaboration under his leadership which has been continued under the patronage of the incumbent President Prof. Tayebi.

Following are glimpses of the Camp:

At the end of the Camp, prize gifts were given to the winners of different sessions and the certificates were awarded to every participating students, volunteers and the organizers.