KARACHI: The three-day Karachi Youth Stem Learning Festival, organised by the School Education and Literacy Department and UNICEF in collaboration with Thar Education Alliance at the Gulshan Scouts Training Centre, concluded on Saturday.

For three days, nerdy children from various government schools impressed to receive accolades from other students, teachers and whoever else visited them at their stalls there. They had made models educating about climate change, the greenhouse effect, clean energy, etc.

There were also working models to demonstrate fire detection and controlling of flames, a zero carbon city, a telescope to teach astronomy first-hand, devastation caused by floods in Pakistan and others.

The stalls represented not just the schools but different districts of the city. There were 50 schools from the seven district of Karachi. For instance, as Deputy District Education Officer District Korangi Afshan Naz told Dawn that they had seven schools from Korangi who had set up stalls there.

Showcase their model projects about science, climate change, technology at the concluding day of the event

Samreen Shahzad, a sixth-VI student of Government Girls Secondary School Korangi 31/2, had a model to promote the usage of solar panels, windmills, wireless chargers as well as a reporting bin, which lit up when full of garbage to inform that it needed emptying.

Mohammad Shayan, a ninth-IX student of Ebrahim Ali Bhai Government Secondary School, had made a model to show what causes acid rain. He also showed the effects of acid rain on plants and animals.

Similarly, Syeda Wajiha, also a class-IX student from the same school, had come up with a model showing the forming and effects of greenhouse gases.

Whereas Ayan Ali, a class-VIII student of Government Boys Secondary School, Malir, had a fire detection system with fire extinguishers.

The zero carbon city of class-VII students Mohammad Raza and Sundas Shabbir was so beautiful, it asked being replicated.

Class-X students Tasbiha Khan and Abeera Atif brought back horrifying memories of the 2022 floods as they explained what caused such catastrophe. They spoke about ozone layer depletion, the need for planting trees, the need to control pollution, etc. The smoke coming out of factory chimneys, the dark clouds gathering in the sky above were ingeniously created by girls using cotton wool and black ink.

The sun, moon and the stars came into focus with space science and astronomy. Hijab Hussain, a teacher with the Space Science Scope Academy—a society that has its members providing astronomy awareness sessions in schools— was also there. To build children’s interest, they had a powerful telescope at their stall. Students were taking turns to look through the telescope as they enjoyed the view in the sky.

It was a pleasant surprise to see so many enthusiastic young people not just explaining their projects so well and in-depth at their school stalls but also visiting stall after stall. Many schools had also sent their students to just enjoy the festival.

Nighat Moin, a teacher with Government Girls Secondary School, Green Town, had brought 35 girls, who enjoyed visiting each and every stall to learn something new. “But I have to do a headcount again and again to not end up losing any of them for their love of science,” she laughed.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2024