Intel Education has a legacy of providing interesting and relevant training content in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. Science Teachers Training, titled as “Students as Scientists’, promotes local, national and global scientific research knowledge sharing that stimulates sustainable development. Successful knowledge sharing can improve the impact and promote awareness of advancement in science and technology as a development tool.

“The Science Teacher Training workshop is very informative as well as interesting. Such type of workshops should be conducted and organized at every institution regularly,” said Sadia Almas Gardezi of Girls Intermediate College, Chikar, Ajk.

So far four Science Teacher Trainings have been conducted in Pakistan. The pilot was conducted in August 2007 at Islamabad in collaboration with Pakistan Science Foundation. Later in 2008 teachers of public institutions of punjab province were trained at Lahore.

As 2009 starts, the training was rolled out to schools and colleges in the central Azad Jammu and Kashmir and adjoining rural areas where a group of 20 science teachers from government and semi-government institutions were trained at Government Model Degree Science College, Muzaffarabad, Ajk. It became a reality with the untiring efforts and support of Mr. Akram Sohail, Secretary Colleges (Higher Education), Azad Government of Jammu and Kashmir. The participants not only included science teachers from Muzaffarabad and near by areas Chikar, Murree and Balseri but also from far off distant areas such as Bagh and Pallandri.

Compared to the necessity of science teachers trained per year, this realization looks like small in numbers but the training of 20 science teachers have however, added a significant mark on the educational picture of Ajk. The teachers are trained to teach in the rural scenario schools and colleges using modern methods of teaching and research. It is envisaged that each of the 20 teachers will implement the new teaching methodologies and disseminate the learned skills among peers.

When the training started, the enthusiasm of the participants was evident. A group of them waited impatiently outside the training venue every day, well after the training hours to be able to interact more with others and share their experiences, finding excuses to prolong the time allocated for this activity based training. Zaheer Aziz, science teacher of Government Model Degree Science College, Muzaffarabad expressed his enthusiasm in these words, “On the last day of the workshop, I really feel a change in myself, in terms of mental approach towards scientific method of teaching and dealing with students. I am really thankful to Intel Education administration for holding such a workshop in the earthquake affected capital of Ajk. I am also thankful to the Education Department of Ajk for providing us an eventful learning activity in our own district.”

In rural Ajk, educators must cope with teaching a population that is poor and somewhat isolated from mainstream Academia. Such trainings enable them to make distinguished theoretical and empirical contributions to basic research in science & Maths, leading to the understanding or amelioration of important practical problems.

“Its my pleasure to be a participant of “Students as Scientists” workshop. I am sure by adopting the strategies presented in the workshop I will be making a lasting difference in my classroom teaching. Furthermore, I have also realized that in order to excel in the modern world, we have to integrate educational technology and research based science teaching”, said Sheikh Rafiullah of Army Public School and College, Chinar Campus, Murree.

Encouraging the participants Mrs. Matlooba Dar, Principal, Govt. Model Degree Science College, Muzaffarabad said, "A quality education brings a lifetime of opportunities and is the key to long-term success. With this program, these teachers will receive the training necessary to improve their institutions and their students' ability to learn, grow and continue their academic pursuits, the word has spread and more requests are coming from both public and private sector to organize more trainings."

Some Glimpses of the Science Teachers Training at Muzaffarabad, Ajk

Participants playing to win the Research Fish Card Game Practicing Reflective Discourse through the Bubble Game Participants organizing the Scientific Method Cards Another group involved with the Research Fish Card Game Quality Education brings a Lifetime of Opportunities Quality Education brings a Lifetime of Opportunities