Students develop eco-friendly cement mix to fill potholes

Students of Sulochanadevi Singhania School in Thane received the first prize at a state level science contest for school students, and will now represent the state at the Indian Science Congress to be held in December. The four-member team was adjudged first for their project on an eco-friendly cement mixture to fill potholes.

Students of Sulochanadevi Singhania School in Thane received the first prize at a state level science contest for school students, and will now represent the state at the Indian Science Congress to be held in December. The four-member team was adjudged first for their project on an eco-friendly cement mixture to fill potholes.

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“Seeing how many potholes there are, we thought we should come up with a way of filling these so as to make roads smoother as well as prevent water-borne diseases from spreading through the pools of stagnant water,” said Heramb Tilak, 16, one of the students in the winning group.

He along with classmates, Pushpendra Yadav, Vaishnavi Kokitkar and Niraja Ranadive, began working on the composite mixture in September. The school is keeping the composition of the eco-friendly cement mix a secret for now. The cement solution uses eco-friendly materials, and the students tested their mixture in Thane Municipal Corporation’s laboratory. After clearing two rounds, the students then presented their project at the state-level contest that ended on Saturday at Buldhana in Jalgaon district.

“These students are very passionate, work beautifully in teams and have a strong spirit of enquiry,” said school principal Revathi Srinivasan. “It is very important for children to question beyond the syllabus.”