E-Paper
Young Kalam Science Festival to spread scientific temper among one lakh schools in state
Drones, censor street lighting, mechanised earth-moving machines, artificial intelligence-driven mobile home lighting system, robots, and remote control cars, among many projects are on display at the festival
At least 120 students from corporation-run schools and Pune zilla parishad (ZP) schools participated in the ongoing ‘Young Kalam Science Festival’, that is being organised by the Socio Economic Development Corporation Trust (SEDT), in association with HCL Foundation, at Karamveer Bhausaheb Hire High School, Laxminagar.
The two-day festival was inaugurated by Vishal Solanki, state education commissioner, on Friday.
Drones, censor street lighting, mechanised earth-moving machines, artificial intelligence-driven mobile home lighting system, robots, and remote control cars, among many projects are on display.
“The new generation does have a scientific spirit which is necessary at the school level because the children are learning new things on the go. Every student here might not become a scientist, but there should be a scientific approach to the things that you do in life and in your career. Even in the rural parts of the state, students are exhibiting science projects about new gen technology like artificial intelligence and robotics. This is happening only in a few schools, but we intend to take this scientific temper to at least one lakh schools in the state. With this, knowledge will be the real empowerment for students,” said Solanki in his inaugural address.
In 2018, Socio Economic Development Corporation Trust had set up a science centre at Hire High School and at least 4,000 students from corporation-run schools and Pune zilla parishad schools have visited the centre to get hands-on training on various scientific projects. In order to give these students an opportunity to make their own project, the Young Kalam Science Festival is being hosted here for the first time.
“Students must make a connection with science and this is the need of the hour. We will be conducting similar science festivals across the country. The aim of the festival is to let students come up with new scientific ideas. Students can also visit the festival to enjoy and learn new things,” said Kulkarni.
“We are planning to build science cities and parks in major cities in Maharashtra. We are also planning to construct a science centre in each taluka. The state education department is currently working on organising science exhibitions and festivals in every district. We are also collaborating with corporate companies for CSR activities, under which we will construct innovation centres in schools,” added Solanki.
Dinanath Kholkar, vice-president, global head analytics and insights, Tata Consultancy Services; Samuel Ebenezer, deputy manager HCL Foundation; Ganpat More, education officer, Pune zilla parishad; Deepak Mali, education officer, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Suryakant Kulkarni, founder and chairman, Socio Economic Development Corporation Trust were present at the event.
The science festival is open to the public on January 4.
What: Young Kalam Science Festival
Where: Karmaveer Bhausaheb Hire High School, Laxminagar
When: January 4, 9 am to 5 pm
