Students warn ‘climate change will render Earth Uninhabitable’
Farooq Shah
SRINAGAR: Aaishia Hayat, an eighth-grader from Government Middle School in Mujhgund, zone Batamaloo, was named the winner of the science seminar organized by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) here at Bemina.
Around seventeen students from each district of the Kashmir Division participated in the event, which served as a warm-up for the National Science Seminar scheduled for November 3, 2022 at Science City, J.B.S. Haldane Avenue, Kolkotta, West Bengal.
Asishia will represent J&K at the national seminar along with the winner of a similar competition that will take place in Jammu shortly.
The seminar, entitled “Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development: Challenges & Prospectus,” was divided into four segments: Science content in presentation, Novelty in use of visuals, Fluency in speech and Ability to answer questions. Each segment’s marks were worth 40, 15, 25, and 20 points, respectively.
The students—through their speeches and presentations—warned that if quick measures to thwart the advances of human misdemeanor were not immediately taken, the earth will soon become inhospitable for all life forms.
SCERT’s senior academic officers—Dr Sajjad Ahmad Mir, Dr Amarpreet Kour, Javed Ahmad Dar and Asima Farooq Shah—acted as evaluators to the participants’ performances while as Dr Sajad Hussain Mir and Shabir Hussian conducted the proceedings of the seminar.
Earlier Mohammad Sharif Dehdar, Joint Director, SCERT, Kashmir, while welcoming the participants, said that a child’s mother’s lap served as their first school where they acquire the basics of science.
“The actual pedagogy is built on daily learning,” Dehdar said. “Every big endeavor— like flying in the sky, climbing a mountain or swimming through the oceans—begins with a small step within the premises of one’s home, and later at the school.”
The students, who received certificates of participation, made a promise during the closing ceremony to respect nature and preserve the environment in whatever small or significant ways they can.