PESHAWAR, Dec 21: Speakers at a workshop here on Tuesday urged heads of public sector colleges in the province to adopt modern techniques for teaching science subjects to prepare their students for the National Science Talent Contest.
The workshop was held by the Science Teachers Forum (STF) at the Peshawar Public School and College to discuss ways of preparing students for the contest. Participants pointed out the obstacles faced in training teachers in science subjects.
Dr Abdullah Sadiq of the Higher Education Commission (HEC)'s STEM Career Project said that some 2,250 applications had been received from candidates across the country, of whom 200 to 300 would get selected for the NSTC training by volunteer organizations.
"Four students from Pakistan would go abroad on scholarships for higher studies in science," he said and urged efforts aimed at mobilizing teachers as well as students to take part in the contest.
According to him, they were trying hard to help provincial colleges in their capacity-building and asked the participants to celebrate 2005 as the Year of Physics by highlighting its significance in the life.
Dr Abdullah showed transparent clips prepared by educationist Pervez Hoodbhoy regarding scientific discoveries. Col Arshad Durrani explained mechanism of preparing students for participating in the NSTC selection test.
According to him, a special liaison cell would be established at the provincial level to coordinate measures to be taken for talent hunt by awarding scholarships to the deserving students appearing in the NSTC test.
Maj Tariq Mahmood said that a week-long teachers training programme would be launched in March next year in which workshops and seminars would be arranged on four science subjects: chemistry, physics, mathematics and biology.
Training will be imparted to teachers during the workshops on modern science teaching methodologies in order to bring about a change in students' attitude towards these subjects.
Dr Qasim said that the need for imparting more practical knowledge to the young generation was never so intense as it was today. He called for bridging the gap between practice and theory in the country, especially in teaching science subjects.
Prof Arbab Mohammad Jamil said that the meeting had given a ray of hope to improve the situation through sharing of each other's experiences and views. The meeting was attended by Prof Ghazala Ashraf of Fazaia, Dur-i-Shahawar, Rukhsana Shaheen, Mrs Safia Tabassum, Tasmina Khatoon, Inamur Rahman, Mrs Akhtar Nagina, Nazia Mehreen, Riffat Parveen, Mrs Khalida Habib, Dr Yasin Iqbal, Dr Mohammad Fayyaz, Dr Fida Mohammad and Dr Haroon Rashid. They also held an open discussion in which various issues were raised and gave suggestions for their solution.
