In Pursuance of the Government’s vision of establishing a knowledge based economy, the Pakistan Science Foundation-PSF under the Ministry of Science and Technology has recently launched a PSDP” Launching of STEM in Pakistan, Phase-I”, an umbrella project which shall be simultaneously executed throughout the country with the support of Federal and Provincial stakeholders/education departments.
One of the targets of the project is to give impetus to Pakistan’s preparation for developing a workforce for the fifth Industrial Revolution.
In this regard, A cheque distribution ceremony was held under the headship of the Mr. Agha Hassan Baloch, Federal Minister for Science and Technology in the Committee room of MoST. At the occasion, Secretary MoST, Mr. Ghulam Muhammad Memon, Chairman PSF, Prof. Dr. Shahid Mahmood Baig and other Top Officials of MoST and PSF were present. HE Mr. Agha Hassan Baloch distributed the cheques of Rs. 1 Million on the account of enabling the labs among the Principals of Schools.
Under the STEM project, 50 STEM Labs will be established in 50 higher Secondary Schools/cadet colleges and 8 labs in different universities/institutions with a total cost of Rupees 993.784 Million. High tech equipment including 3D Printers, Vinyl Cutters, Design Computers, STEM Kits etc. will be installed in these labs upon which the students will learn new techniques which are compulsory for the 5th Industrial Revolution.
It is worth to mention here that the project approved from PSDP is focused to enhance the educational skills of teachers as well as students throughout the Pakistan.
At the occasion, the Federal Minister, Mr. Agha Hassan Baloch emphasized on Hands on Activities and development of Entrepreneurship Skills in Students. Furthermore, he said that STEM Education is a paradigm shift from traditional education to hands-on learning of core scientific concepts. STEM encourages youth to experiment, make mistakes and learn from their own experiences rather than relying on what the textbook says. It has basic areas of critical thinking, logical analysis, inquiry and project-based learning which boost the curiosity among students as it motivates and inspires students to excel in applied STEM fields.
He further emphasized that this program will reinforce Pakistan’s preparation for availing the forthcoming global opportunities in terms of creation of new jobs and prospects of entrepreneurship in the emerging technologies and scientific frontiers.
The Federal Minister directed to complete the project in time and initiate the process of Training Teachers on STEM as soon as possible.
