How India's Science Setu can inspire students to innovate
Large campuses, elegantly designed buildings, manicured lawns, modern facilities and scientists busy with test tubes. That's how our national research laboratories are perceived by people. We have a vast number of them all over the country, thanks to early investments made in the development of scientific research infrastructure. This has helped India develop an excellent pool of trained manpower and emerge as a leading producer of scientific papers in recent decades.
Yet, such centres of scientific research are seen more as ivory towers or islands of excellence in a land of mediocre science education.
Universities and colleges teaching science have to struggle to attract bright young minds and hone them for careers in science, for reasons such as lack of basic lab infrastructure, libraries and manpower. We need to literally build bridges between the two systems, because one depends on the other.
This is what the National Institute of Immunology (NII), a research laboratory under the department of biotechnology, has been attempting for the past one year.
The institute has designed a programme, Science Setu, to facilitate interaction between its top scientists and students from colleges of the University of Delhi (DU). The interaction takes place at the NII campus as well as in respective colleges. DU students come to NII and spend time in its labs, while NII scientists go to different colleges delivering popular talks on subjects like stem cells and DNA fingerprinting, highlighting latest trends including their own work.
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College teachers are also mentored on innovative teaching methodologies, careers in research, science policy, et al. The DU colleges participating in this programme are Daulat Ram, Dayal Singh, Gargi, Hansraj, Hindu, Miranda House, Ramjas, Khalsa, Sri Venkateswara, Zakir Hussain, Shivaji and Institute of Home Economics.
The initiative is a good example of how innovative methods can be deployed to promote science education and encourage young students to pursue a research career. It is also an opportunity for scientists to contribute to the education system.
Leading global centres of learning like Yale, MIT and Harvard have extensive outreach programmes, including summer courses for school kids. Such courses are taught by scientists - sometimes Nobel laureates - working in cutting edge fields of scientific research.
This kind of high-quality interface with scientists in universities and research institutes can leave a lasting impression on young minds and motivate children to become scientists. "The programme has generated a great deal of goodwill and excitement in the academic community, and will benefit both NII and the partner colleges," says Dr Chandrima Shaha, director of NII, who is engaged in research on cell death.
The feedback from colleges has been good. About 50 students have been given training in wet laboratory for varying periods of time, in some cases up to three months. Large groups of students from colleges have visited our labs and 16 scientists have delivered multiple lectures in colleges. "Creating an interest in science through actual laboratory work and exposure to practising scientists would certainly help students to get into the scientific research stream," feels Dr Shaha. It is an example worth emulating for national institutes all over the country.
(Courtesy of Mail Today.)