After Cov break, India’s oldest science museum tries to woo back visitors

Kolkata: Birla Industrial and Technological Museum, India’s first science museum set up to encourage a scientific temperament among students, is trying to reconnect with schools after a two-year disruption caused by Covid. After reaching out to schools and encouraging them to appoint one teacher each, the BITM authorities organised a day-long science jamboree with teachers from 120 schools, giving them a tour of the facility that has been popularizing and promoting science among students through various interactive models, exhibitions, educational programmes and activities since 1959.
Science teachers from schools like La Martiniere for Boys, Modern High, Don Bosco, South City International, Birla High, Future Hope, Heritage, Shri Shikshayatan, Jodhpur Park Boys, The BSS and Bethune were given demonstrations of various curriculum-based models that can also be taught in the classroom. “We have to get students back to BITM because this facility is designed to augment their learning curves, not only on curricular concepts in basic physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, astronomy, electricity, electronics, but also on current topics of interest in science & technology and related social issues. We also offer a number of science shows for organized groups,” said BITM director VS Ramachandran.
Don Bosco senior school physics teacher Abirlal Chatterjee has already spoken to their principal to finalise dates for a visit to BITM. “The experiments and shows are so engaging that they will get students hooked to science. And once they get interested, they are bound to do well in the subjects,” he said.
Birla High School biology and biotechnology teacher Debjanjali Gupta said, the hands on learning provided by BITM would be great to get students from Class V onwards interested in science subjects. “Students’ learning has suffered a lot during the two years of pandemic. The reflection can be seen in the results of offline exams. We have to engage them with places like BITM to revive their academic interests,” she said.
In pre-pandemic times, BITM attracted around 1,000 visitors a day, of whom 700 were students. “We have reached out to schools from the state board, ICSE and CBSE. We are launching new educational programmes for students, emphasizing on more hands-on activities. We are targetting a daily footfall to 1,500 of whom at least 1,000 should be school students,” said Ramachandran.