Education and technology in rural romanian environment „Ora să ȘTIM/ Volunteer readers” Event

On june 25 2019, at National Museum Cotroceni, it took place an event that marked the end of the Ora să ȘTIM project. The event was organized by Progress Foundation in partnership with Deutsche Telekom Stiftung. The topic approached was: ”Education and technology in romanian rural environment.”

The central moment of the event was a discussion based on the: “Education and technology in rural Romania – small steps or gigantic leaps?” that included the special guests: Dr. Ligia Deca, State Counselor – Presidential Administration, Olimpia Bratu, Manager – “Christian Tell” County Library Gorj, Prof. Univ. Lucian Ciolan – Bucharest University, Stefanie Thate, Communications Manager – Deutsche Telekom Stiftung, Germany, Roxana Vitan, Romanian-American Foundation President, Vlad Măcelaru, CEO ClarK & Ambassador CODE Kids. The panel moderator was Dr. Camelia Crişan, Lecturer. univ. Dr. SNSPA.

Three of the ideas addressed in the panel can be summarized in the following questions, and the guest had the perfect answears.

In what kinds of skills should we invest in preparing the children for jobs that will be available in the future?

“There are many areas that are not included in the core disciplines, but they could be. We often forget about the final exam notes, but we rarely test competence, what can be done “, Dr. Ligia Deca, State Councilor – Presidential Administration

Why we should invest in this kind of programs?

In the moment everyone has access to technology, this will be the future. This kind of projects help science to be better known in the future. There is a giant amount of talents. And yes, everyone has to do this, because is true, it is a Government Responsibility, but ours too, Roxana Vitan, Președinte Romanian-American Foundation

How we should behave with students from primary and elementary school?

„A first step is to start less phrases with NO and with interdictions and to tell then what can be done. Kids have this courage, but if we sanction it from a young age, they will lose it. For this generation of children to succeed, they have to make mistakes. In science there is a need for trial and error, but without testing, the mistakes can’t be made”, Prof. univ. dr. Lucian Ciolan – Universitatea București.

At the end of the event took place the Ora să ȘTIM award ceremony, as a token of gratitude for the active involvement of librarians which facilitated the good realization of the activities and support the creativity of children involved. Here are the merits of a Ora să ȘTIM initiative from the project manager perspective, Dr. Claudia Şerbănuţă:

Ora să ȘTIM is an invite which librarians address to children to discover by themselves, through reading and experiments, how cool is science. In the last 6 months, librarians from 155 communities, most of them from rural environment, made from their libraries small laboratories in which children aged between 3 to 10 years were free to explore STEM topics like: human body and senses, the solar sistem, the geography of the planet, flora and fauna, physics and chemistry. Using as a source of energy the kids wonder, and their sense of curiosity, the librarians had opened the books, and started to read and doing experiments with the little ones in more than 5000 sessions. Ora să ȘTIM brought education through science in the Romanian villages and prepared the librarians to be passionate supporters of this kind of education. Come along with us to continue this so necessary effort.”

We wish that communities to continue the activities, to promote the STEM technology, because that way, they can contribute to the development of young people across the country.

Ora să ȘTIM is a national initiative that aims to encourage children and stimulate their interest in reading and STEM, through reading aloud session, experiments and question sessions through which children have learned about the environment. The beneficiaries of the project were the librarians from 155 counties from Romania: Argeș, Bihor, Dâmbovița, Gorj, Harghita,  Hunedoara, Prahova, Mureș, Neamț, Sălaj, Vâlcea și Vrancea.