Bandar Seri Begawan - With the field of science considered to be an important component in education, a total of three youths have been elected to represent the Abode of Peace in neighbouring Philippines alongside other youthful participants for the inaugural Philippines International Science Fair (PISF) 2013.

Departing from the Brunei International Airport yesterday, the students from Rimba Secondary School I, accompanied by a teacher and an officer from the Ministry of Education, will be in hosted by the Philippine Science High School System in partnership with the First Pacific Learning Academy for a total of four days until February 6 at Antipolo City, Rizal.

Aptly themed as "Building a Culture of Science" to encourage more youth participation in science, a press statement explained that the PISF was initially exclusive to students from across the Philippines but the Department of Education in the said nation made the decision to include schools from across the Asia-Pacific region to include the likes of Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan as well as Thailand.

Conducted in the English language, the fair will include activities such as teambuilding, study critiques where students will be provided with proper guidance on how to properly evaluate research studies, a student summit designed to draw out the experiences of students in research whilst providing a constructive learning environment, a student congress where participants will present their research studies to their peers and a community fair ambitioned to popularise science as students share their research findings to a larger group of students, stakeholders and potential beneficiaries of their findings.