Robotics camp gets underway at NUST

Islamabad : LearnOBots kicked off the 9th cohort of its Robotics and Steam Weekend Camp in collaboration with the National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST) Saturday inside the institute’s premises.

The first session of the 6-month camp aimed at children aged between 8-14 has concluded.

This course offers a wide range of activities including but not limited to robotics, coding, game development, computer programming, 3D modelling and printing, creative digital art, and home inventions.

Head of Operations LearnOBots Mohsin M Khan told this agency, “This programme has been designed to foster 21st century skills in the learners which are the demand of the current times and the future.

Each batch of the camp consists of only 24 pupils in CoVID-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) compliant environment.

However, this time around, the ed-tech venture received 35 applications, of which only 24 were selected while the remaining 11 candidates will be adjusted in the next unit.

The specially designed camp for STEAM is offered every 2 weeks, where two teachers dedicated for each thematic area impart knowledge to the students, every weekend for 2 hours.

“The vision of our organisation, from day one, has been to revamp Pakistan’s education system and provide STEAM-related quality learning to our younger generations so that they can compete with the rest of the world,” Mohsin added further.

The programme that requires no prior experience or skills has been popular with parents and disciples alike.

“It is recommended and highly informative and interactive sessions. Very nice and cooperative administration,” shared Nazia Kashif, mother of Muhammad Abdullah Kashif.

To date, the robotics firm has trained over 20,000 students, has partnered with more than 90 schools nationwide, and has conducted online classes internationally in 11 countries.

It is currently in talks with schools in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Turkey for arranging similar workshops in their educational institutes.

The group aims to introduce more producers of innovative technology instead of consumers, who are able to decide their own path and make a name for themselves and their homeland.

IWMB gets Monal’s control amid wildlife educational centre plan: The Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB), the custodian of the Margalla Hills National Park, has taken the control of the sealed Monal restaurant in the hill range to turn it into a wildlife educational centre.

The city administration had sealed the restaurant early last month after the Islamabad High Court declared commercial activities in the national park illegal and ordered the handing over of the restaurant’s premises to the IWMB to protect, conserve and manage the national park, which is home to hundreds of bird species and scores of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.

According to the IWMB, the education centre to be put up at the site of the Monal restaurant overlooking the federal capital will further the cause of the protection and preservation of Margalla wildlife.

The proposal already cleared by the city’s civic agency, Capital Development Authority (CDA), is with the climate change ministry for approval and necessary legislation.

IWMB chairperson Rina S Khan Satti said the high court’s intervention would help improve biodiversity, promote plants and animals, and restore the Margalla Hills National Park’s ecosystem to give the present and future generations an opportunity to experience and enjoy nature, and learn to value it.

She said the board with the help of volunteers was striving to reduce threats to the national park from the illegal felling of trees, hunting of animals and birds, forest fires, construction, and encroachments, littering, and pollution, and was also working with the local communities and visitors to raise environmental awareness.

According to the IWMB chairperson, the premises of the erstwhile Islamabad Marghazar Zoo, which was closed down on the court’s May 2020 orders over outrageous conditions, are being turned into a wildlife park with a separate centre for the animals injured by the people. Also, the board will begin limited guided tours of the Leopard Preserve Zone in the MHNP soon.