Tajikistan Ministry of Education and Science assures Support to ECO Science Foundation

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The Ministry of Education and Science (MES) of the Republic of Tajikistan has assured all possible cooperation and support to ECO Science Foundation. This assurance was extended by the Minister MES H.E. Mr. SAID, Nuriddin Said and the 1st Deputy Minister of MES Tajikistan H.E. Mr. MIRBOBOEV, Rahmatulo Madayubovich during meeting of President ECOSF with the two dignitaries in Dushanbe earlier this month.

President ECOSF Prof. Dr. Manzoor Hussain Soomro called upon the Minister H.E. Mr. SAID Nuriddin and the 1st Deputy Minister of MES Tajikistan Mr. Mirboboev on 3 June 2015 in the MES Dushanbe. Purpose of the meetings was to apprise the Ministers about ECO Science Foundation, its programmes and request their cooperation in the interest of Tajikistan and the ECO Region as a whole.

The Minister and 1st Deputy Minister enthusiastically welcomed the visiting President ECOSF and invited him to share aims & objectives and activities of the Foundation. The President ECOSF after thanking the hosts for their enthusiastic welcome and hospitality, and elaborated on the process of establishment of ECO Science Foundation in Islamabad, the status of signatories and ratifying member countries of ECOSF Charter. Prof. Soomro explained that ECOSF Charter was signed by all 10 member countries in March 1995; however, ratification has so far been done by five countries, with Tajikistan among the very first ratifying ECO members. He also mentioned that so far only Pakistan and Iran were contributing to the ECOSF annual budget.

President ECOSF while talking about technical aspects, emphasized the strengths of "Cooperation and Collaboration" being pursued by stakeholders globally. He also highlighted the aims and objective as well as programmes of the Foundation and the International Collaborations and Strategic partnerships of ECOSF for S&T based economic development in ECO countries. He said that education and educationists play a pivotal role and particularly where it comes to science education, it plays a key role in economic development- Japan and Korea being classical examples of resource poor countries' advancement, based on S&T.

Prof. Soomro also informed the Minister that Tajikistan, though an ECOSF Charter ratifying country, has yet to make nomination of an eminent scientist to serve on the Executive Committee (EC) and Board of Trustees (BoT) of ECOSF. It also has yet to financially contribute to ECOSF budget as per the Rules of Procedure and working formula. President ECOSF thus requested the MES to facilitate the Foundation by; keeping close interaction, nomination of an eminent scientist on EC and BoT and arranging payment of mandatory budgetary contribution starting from the year 2012. He also informed the Minister that next (2nd) meeting of ECOSF BoT is scheduled on 11 August 2015 preceded by a meeting of the Executive Committee on 10 August and requested for stronger participation from the MES or Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan.

The two sides agreed to promote S&T research and education at all levels including the schools by engaging young children and youth for a better future of not only Tajikistan but also the ECO region as a whole. The ECOSF will play its due role as a catalyst in the respect, said Prof. Soomro. He emphasized however, that inquiry based science education (IBSE) methodology for teaching Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) at grass root level is a key solution identified and practiced by the developed world. And Islamic world, particularly ECO member states should learn from the "Golden era of Islam" and pursue IBSE pedagogy (hands-on, minds-on) linked with advance S&T research. That should enable young minds to develop critical observation & thinking and support social and economic development in their societies and countries and finally the region. Thus ECOSF is launching IBSE in the region by organizing a capacity building workshop in Astana- Kazakhstan from 22- 25 June 2015, wherein, two persons nominated by the Tajikistan Academy of Sciences will join.

At the end, the Minister and the 1st Deputy Minister once again assured President ECOSF of their full support and cooperation in promotion of science, technology and science education in Tajikistan and the region.