World Science Day for Peace and Development - 12 Nov 2014

Go Back

The ECO Science Foundation (ECOSF) and COMSATS (Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South) in association with UNESCO- Pakistan, commemorated the World Science Day 2014 and organized a seminar on this year's theme; 'Quality Science: Securing a Sustainable Future for all'. The seminar was held in a local hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan on 12 November 2014. Dr. Ishfaq Ahmad N.I., H.I., S.I., the renowned physicist and former Advisor to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on Science & Technology, graced the occasion as Chief Guest. Country Director UNESCO- Pakistan Ms. Vibeke Jensen participated as a special guest. The event had a mixed gathering of over one hundred participants, including science students, representatives of scientific institutions, academicians, senior scientists and Fellows of Pakistan Academy of Science, as well as, policy makers and members of the diplomatic community in Islamabad.

The seminar was conducted in two sessions; Inaugural and Technical. The seminar was opened by the President ECOSF Prof. Manzoor Hussain Soomro. In his opening remarks he welcomed the distinguished guests and highlighted the importance of Science and the World Science Day for Peace and Development and the role of science in daily life. He highlighted the history of World Science Day and said that established by UNESCO in 2001, the Day is celebrated worldwide on 10 November every year by intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, scientific research institutions, professional associations, universities, municipalities, the media, science teachers, schools. Dr. Soomro emphasized on the importance of inquiry based science education (IBSE) at schools as the most important basis for development of nations and the science for sustainable development for all. Prof. Soomro, who is also the member of the Global Council of the Science Education Programme (SEP) of the Inter-Academy Panel (IAP)- a worldwide network of 107 Science Academies further said that SEP IAP are promoting inquiry based science education and the curricula around the world are being updated and revised to be in line with the scientific developments; however, in Pakistan, we are still stuck up with non issues and outdated concepts. He said ECOSF is striving for promotion of IBSE in 10 ECO member countries in collaboration with Academies of Sciences and Ministries of Science and Education.

Ms. Vibeke Jensen the new UNESCO Director in Pakistan noted that quality science education for all, is an essential requisite for sustainable development. She urged that we must encourage young women and men to take interest in science; as well as, invest in educational materials and equipment, teachers' training in sciences and inquiry-based learning. She was of the opinion that encouraging critical thinking and creativity in students at all levels can enable them to contribute to environmental, economic and social development in areas ranging from climate change, disaster risk reduction, water management, energy, food security and medicine, to poverty reduction, better health and sustainable consumption.

She announced that UNESCO has launched its 'World Library of Science' (WLoS), a free online resource for learning about sciences through text, pictures, illustrations and videos to make scientific concepts easy to understand.

Dr. I.E. Qureshi, in his remarks, introduced COMSATS and said that it was dedicated to promoting scientific collaboration using the effective mechanism of South-South cooperation. He recognized scientific cooperation as the key to achieving sustainable development for the developing world. Touching upon the initiative taken by COMSATS for the promotion of quality education in the country, he noted that COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) was launched as a small project in 1998, which now is well recognized university with seven campuses and over 35,000 enrolled students. Dr. Qureshi noted that COMSATS has cooperation with UNESCO on multiple levels that resulted in establishing UNESCO Chair for Integrated Water Resources Management at CIIT, Wah campus. He also thanked ECOSF for collaborating with COMSATS.

In his address, Dr. Ishfaq Ahmad, the Chief Guest, recalled the efforts made by him to designate the World Science Day in the list of International Days observed by UN to highlight the significance of science for the betterment of society. He noted that while Pakistan, an agrarian economy, is confronted with huge water shortage, science and technology can provide means for addressing the vulnerability due to water scarcity as well as the challenges posed by global climate change. He also called for reducing gender disparity, particularly in tertiary education, to curb the menace of over population, which is among the significant problems facing the national economy.

During the technical session of the seminar, talks were given by (from left) Dr. Tariq Mahmood, Advisor, Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan; Dr. Faisal F. Khan, Director, Institute of Integrative Biology, CECOS University, Peshawar; Dr. Fayyaz A. Faize, Assistant Professor CIIT, Islamabad; and Mr. Salman Naveed Khan, Campaign Manager (Political Advocacy) of NGO- Alif Ailaan.

These talks, in general, deliberated upon the role of HEC in improving the standard of education and research in the country; new trends in life sciences; interdisciplinary and entrepreneurial nature of modern science education; ensuring ethical disposition; quality teaching; as well as, challenges of providing quality science education in schools of Pakistan.

Speakers expressed their concern for a high number of 'out-of-school' children and pressed the government and the civil society to play a greater role in this regard. One of the highlights of the event was the poster exhibition and competition. Over 40 posters, prepared by science students and researchers were presented, explicating the role of science for a progressive society in themes of agriculture, health, biosciences, nanotechnology and computational sciences. These students and researchers belonged to eleven science departments of universities and colleges.

The seminar was concluded with a poster session where undergraduate/graduate students presented their ideas on sustainable livelihoods, in various themes of Agriculture, Health, Education, Environment (Climate Change and Biodiversity), Energy and Economy (Poverty & Disaster Risk Reduction). At the end of the seminar, five awards for the 'Best Posters' along with cash prize were given to students of CIIT and NUST Islamabad, Forman Christian College-Lahore, and the University of Lahore (Islamabad campus).