Science centres at schools to attract young talent

Your neighbourhood school may soon open a science centre to attract talented young minds to pure sciences.

Your neighbourhood school may soon open a science centre to attract talented young minds to pure sciences.

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The National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) plans to establish 1,000 such School Science Centres across India, including Mumbai, over five years to generate interest among the students in science and mathematics.

The project has received an initial allocation of Rs 50 crore from the Centre.

“Bright young students are not getting attracted to science, leading to a faculty crunch in science and math. This is the
crux of the problem, as a result of which there is a cascading effect on overall science education,” said C.S. Rautela,
NCSM director general.

On Saturday, Rautela attended the National Science Seminar at the Nehru Science Centre in Worli.

As part of the project, bright science students between Class 5 and Class 10 of various schools will be identified and mentored at these centres.

The NCSM will set up laboratories and provide resource material.

The centres will provide “hands-on activities,” said Rautela. They will also work towards professional enrichment of science teachers that will help them motivate students and make classroom teaching interesting.

The centres will also allow students to develop their own resource material. “Students will be exposed to laboratories, participate in investigative projects, engage in problem solving in math and science and get an opportunity to meet scientists,” said Rautela.

The national council will track these students once out of school for 10 years to monitor their career path in science as well as to invite them for lectures and other activities in these centres.

Till date, the national council has set up 25 National Science Centres in the country and 22 mobile units that take science in the rural areas. The state has two such centres — one in the city and another in Nagpur.