KARACHI: “We all want change and that change will only come through education. Education has to go all the way down to all our children,” said PTI MPA Samar Ali Khan.

He was speaking at the launch of volume three of the publication on maths and science learning, titled Powering Pakistan for the 21st Century: A Roadmap to transform Maths and Science education organised by Alif Ailaan in collaboration with Pakistan Alliance for Maths and Science at the Aga Khan University’s Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED) here on Friday.

“Human potential is lost without education. But those who teach should also know how to teach,” he said and added that there was a need to move away from boring old teaching methods and think about innovative ways to get children charged up, such as having a moving science fair or a museum where everyone can experience science.

The purpose of the publication is to highlight the importance of maths and science education in Pakistani classrooms, especially those in government schools, where the least privileged of this country’s children study. To achieve this objective the publishers and researchers of the report seek a robust set of actions by governments, both federal and provincial, to help transform maths and science education in Pakistan.

“My task is now going to be to get a chief scientist for Sindh and work with the education minister for getting this done,” said Samar Ali Khan.

“We’ll play our role especially where the legislation [is] concerned for increased funding for maths and science education,” said MQM MPA Faisal Sabzwari, also present at the event.

Sharing her experience of holding science fairs at her school, Sabrina Dawood of Dawood Public School said that students from all over Karachi attended them to interact with each other. “They were phenomenal,” she said.

Dr Nusrat Fatima Rizvi, a faculty member at the AKU-IED, said that science teachers were usually those people who came to teaching of the subject after getting rejected as students from medicine and engineering colleges. “How can we motivate science and mathematics graduates?” she asked.

“We should raise the status of teachers. We should acknowledge that teachers do a noble service,” she said, adding that we need valid indicators for assessing classroom practices. She said that educators also needed to focus more on what the students wanted to do in order to try and understand their aptitudes and abilities rather than their deficiencies.

Dr Nelofer Halai, another AKU-IED faculty member, said that school science laboratories should not be for just class nine and 10 students. “There is a required change in mindset as younger students can also learn practical science. There may be activities mentioned in their textbooks but they will benefit more from practical work. They can be taught very complex science with simple materials,” she said.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2017