Science fest gives students opportunity to innovate

NAGPUR: City’s very first Raman Festival of Science gave a morale boost to school and college students to toy with their knowledge and innovate. It is an initiative by Raman Science Centre (RSC) to provide students a platform to showcase fresh scientific ideas with real world application.

The three-day programme was inaugurated by chairman of

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research

(CSIR) Satish Wate and former regional director of Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (central region) Amit

Majumdar

on Thursday.

Students from around 60 schools and engineering colleges participated in the festival and showcased their home-made science projects. The fire department of

Nagpur Municipal Corporation

specially exhibited two rapid intervention vehicles (RIVs) based on a motorcycle and a sport utility vehicle (SUV). Both the vehicles were equipped with water and foam reservoirs and oxygen tanks.

Interacting with media, Wate said, “I am amazed to see city’s children genuinely applying their mind in creating something new. However, they need to build confidence, gain knowledge and stand by it with conviction. This will develop with time.”

According to Wate, industries rarely allow opportunities to innovators. He said, “Industries have a bad habit of buying ready-made technology from the market. Market players give limited options to industries due to which they have to make do with whatever is available. At this stage, the innovator rarely gets an opportunity.”

Wate said the government must first lead the way in this effort then only will others follow. “Bureaucracy often hinders ground-breaking technology. It shouldn’t interfere too much. Instead, governments should enable young students to invent solutions to existing problems. If opportunities in public sector are opened, the government will be setting a benchmark for private sector,” he said.

Majumdar stressed on the teachers’ role in shaping students. “The role of a guru is critical. The teacher channels his knowledge and experience through his students and keeps them headed in the correct direction.”

“The motivation in a student can be gauged when you talk to him about his project. You then come to know whether he has been pressured to do it or his teacher has properly motivated him,” Majumdar added.

Education officer at RSC Abhimanyu Bhelave said, “The centre is trying to incentivize creating science projects for students to encourage them to innovate. Schools and colleges usually ask students to make a project because of curriculum requirements. That shouldn’t necessarily be the case.”