ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) has launched a project to promote knowledge-based economy aimed at giving a momentum to country’s preparation for developing a workforce for the fifth Industrial Revolution.

PSF, a department under the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), has launched the Phase–I of ‘Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics’ (STEM) across the country, an umbrella project to be simultaneously executed the support of federal and provincial stakeholders and the education departments.

Under the project, 50 STEM labs will be established in 50 higher secondary schools including the cadet colleges, while eight labs will be established in different universities and institutions with a total cost of Rs993.78 million.

To establish these labs cheque distribution ceremony was held here on Wednesday, by Agha Hassan Baloch, Federal Minister for Science and Technology in the Committee room of MoST.

Cheques were distributed among the schools to establish basic infrastructure for the labs. School management would be provided the relevant equipment including 3D printers, vinyl cutters, design computers, STEM Kits etc. at a later stage for these labs.

The STEP project has been approved in the development budget for 2022-23 and it is focused to enhance the educational skills of teachers as well as students throughout the Pakistan.

The science and technology minister emphasised for a hands on activities and development of Entrepreneurship Skills in Students.

“STEM Education is a paradigm shift from traditional education to hands-on learning of core scientific concepts,” Mr Baloch said, adding that, “STEM encourages youth to experiment, make mistakes and learn from their own experiences rather than relying on what the textbook says”.

The core air of the project is to develop the 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.

The minister directed to complete the project in time and initiate the process of Training Teachers on STEM as soon as possible.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2022