Recipients of the Secondary School Research Experience Programme third cycle award, with officials at the ceremony at Awsaj Academy in Education City yesterday. Shaival Dalal
DOHA: Outstanding research projects by secondary school students were awarded yesterday by the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), in collaboration with the Supreme Council of Education (SEC), in the latest cycle of its Secondary School Research Experience Programme (SSREP) designed to provide students with research experience.
Eighty-one students, including 39 Qataris from 23 schools, were awarded for 48 projects on a wide variety of subjects, during a ceremony at the Awsaj Academy.
SSREP collaboration between QNRF and the SEC is aimed at spreading the culture of research in the early stages of a student’s education. Five schools received special recognition for crossing the 90 percent benchmark on seven projects.
Al Wakra Independent Secondary School for Boys, Al Resala Girls Independent Secondary School, Ali Bin Jassim Bin Mohammed Al Thani Secondary Independent School for Boys, Shimaa Secondary Independent School for Girls and Qatar Academy Secondary School received special recognition for research projects on renewable energy, effect of hand wash and children with special needs and other issues.
To encourage research excellence in Qatar’s secondary school community, QNRF awarded QR5,000 to school teams that ranked among the top for their research projects. The runners-up received QR4,000 and QR3,000 went to the third winner.
Dr Abdul Sattar Al Taie, Executive Director at QNRF, said, “We are continuously impressed by student research resulting from SSREP, and this year is no different, with 42 secondary schools participating in this cycle.
“There is a marked increase of 25 percent in the number of awarded schools, demonstrating a significant rise in interest among secondary schools in Qatar. It also illustrates the success our programme has achieved in cultivating the Qatari youth’s enthusiasm for research.”
Taking another step, SSREP in the future will give special recognition to Qatari students for their outstanding research.
Commenting on results, Dr Abdulla Al Kamali, SSREP Programme Officer, said: “The programme encourages high school students to actively participate in research, helping develop the research culture in Qatar at an early stage. We are very pleased to report that nearly half of the awarded students are Qataris.
“As a next step in encouraging students to actively participate in research, QNRF and SEC will collaborate to nominate outstanding research projects by Qatari students to compete for the next cycle of the Annual Education Excellence Day Award,” Al Kamali added.
QNRF received 314 research proposals during the third cycle of SSREP, 307 of which passed expert screening at the SEC Curriculum Standards Office.
Students were given four months to conduct their research, after which 191 final reports were submitted to QNRF. They were evaluated by three independent experts based on predetermined standards.
In the past three cycles of SSREP, over 820 students from 55 schools have participated in the programme.
The Peninsula
