[Assam] Of Science Education (EDITORIAL,The Sentinel.19.02.08)

[Buljit Buragohain]

Of Science Education
  
That science centres named after Aryabhatta, one of the greatest mathematicians and astronomers India has produced, would come up in each block of Asom is a welcome augury. The initiative is laudable, given the disinterest among students towards science — both as academic discipline and as career. The proposed science centres, to be set up at the cost of Rs 1 crore each, would be a practical means of generating interest in science among the student community — most of whom are frustrated at the manner in which science education is imparted in schools and miss the thrill that science really is. Therefore, perhaps, each science centre would have tools like screw drivers, pliers, chisels, hacksaw frames and blades, physical balance, spring balance, compass, magnifying glass, low-cost microscope, measuring tape, beakers, flasks and test tubes so that the students acquire practical skills to implement their scientific knowledge in their daily life. There would also be low-cost
 experimental kits like water- and soil-testing kit, biology kit, food adulteration detection kit and earthquake awareness kit. This apart, each science centre would organize a block-level science activity camp, a science quiz competition, a scientific poster competition and a science essay competition every year. Besides, a group of students, one from each science centre, would be taken on a study tour to renowned scientific institutions in the country every year.
Only time will tell how far these science centres would contribute to science education in Asom, a State that has seen a sharp dip in the number of students opting for general science in recent times. Nor has the State tried to work out a strategy, in consultation with experts in the field, to attract the young mind towards making science an exciting area of study and career. It is true that a lot can be done in that direction if the science centres are to really act as science motivators to ignite the minds of the younger lot. But what must add to that is a proper back-up by science education in the classroom, which has so far been detached from the practicalities of life. Blame it on the system or the teachers who themselves are underpaid and are incapable of engaging the young mind in the marvels of science because they do not know how to go about it or are least bothered about the cause of science education. Therefore, what is being taught as science in the classroom is
 just another routine subject that requires the students to only cram the facts and figures and produce them as they are in their answer scripts to come out with ‘flying colours’ in their examinations — which, as we have often said in this column while harping on the education system in vogue, are neither valid nor reliable. 
Therefore, despite the proposed science centres, science education in Asom may remain the same unless the schools have a breed of quality teachers who would teach their students how to make and ask questions and discuss them in the classroom, how to go beyond the syllabus and look for interrelated and interesting domains at the same level, and how to make the apparently abstruse subject one of the most interesting and challenging academic pursuits. But for all that, there ought to be teachers who are teachers by choice, which is possible only when there are reasons to make that choice. And obviously, of all the reasons for making that choice, the deciding one will be a better pay structure and job satisfaction and security. We are talking of building a society where science has its due place and where science education is an adventure in its own right. 
   
   
  (EDITORIAL,The Sentinel.19.02.08) 



       
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