IAP calls for improved science education

At the close of the recent IAP Science Education Programme (SEP) Biennial Conference, held in Beijing, China from 28-30 October 2014, members of IAP's SEP Global Council prepared the 'Beijing Declaration'. The Declaration calls on IAP member academies, governments, the private sector and UNESCO to strengthen science education around the world - with a focus on the proven methods of inquiry-based science education (IBSE).

“Many of the challenges facing our growing human population have a basis in science,” says Dato Ir. (Dr.) Lee Yee Cheong, Chair of the IAP SEP Global Council/Senior Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia. “For our society to develop sustainably, within the productive capacity of our planet, science needs to be applied to tackle such issues as climate change, population growth, health, food security, energy security, water management, etc. For this we need an educated population and decision-makers who are science-literate."

The Beijing Declaration was subsequently endorsed by the Executive Committee of IAP, who met at the Academie des Sciences, Paris, France, on 6-7 November 2014.

The full text of the Beijing Declaration is available HERE.

A press release with additional information is available HERE.

IAP will ensure that the message of the Declaration is brought to the attention of its member academies and hopefully, through them, to national ministries of education and national delegations to UNESCO.