The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) aims to educate 50,000 more government school students in seven states by 2026 about science and offer career guidance in vernacular languages. This will allow people without a scientific background to interact with and appreciate the beauty and significance of scientific discoveries.
This outreach initiative is being provided free of cost with the objective to motivate students to take up careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The Institute has distributed 3,20,702 books to 9,193 rural and government schools in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
Schools and students who are interested in participating can register through https://biotech.iitm.ac.in/Faculty/CNS_LAB/outreach.html
Highlighting the need for such initiatives, Prof V Srinivas Chakravarthy, Department of Biotechnology, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, IIT Madras, said, “Popular science serves as a bridge, translating complex scientific concepts into a language that makes it more accessible to a broader audience. It allows individuals without a scientific background to engage with and appreciate the beauty and importance of scientific discoveries.”
The key activities undertaken through the initiative include:
- Popular Science books are translated into vernacular languages and are distributed to government school students
- Provide career guidance to students in vernacular languages
- Motivate students on careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) through science experiments and inspirational sessions
With financial support from IIT Madras and CSR partners, Prof V Srinivas Chakravarthy and his team have published and distributed free popular science books to rural and government schools. Over the three years, this effort had been expanded to Hindi-speaking states as well.
The school students go through a free career guidance assessment called ‘My Choice My Future’ (MCMF), a tool developed by faculty and alumni of IIT Madras in partnership with BodhBridge. The MCMF tool is a simple career guidance assessment that provides detailed insights. This online career guidance solution helps school students identify the right career paths based on their strengths.
This tool is currently available in seven Indian languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali and Marathi along with English. Career guidance sessions are conducted for the students on the top careers with a special emphasis on STEM careers. The institute has covered 10,931 students in more than 100 schools in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal through this initiative. The team visits schools to make learning fun. Experts engage the students to make them understand how and why understanding science and applying science in real life is important as part of learning. A few experiments are demonstrated to make the session more engaging and active.
Different Science topics are discussed with the students to motivate students towards STEM education. Students are given the opportunity to ask questions. Engaging students through hands-on experiments and discussions about the real-world applications of scientific concepts can significantly enhance their understanding and interest in STEM.
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(Source: Education Times)
