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GET THE SCIENCE RIGHT IN SCHOOLS

IT IS CERTAINLY an awkward paradox that India has produced, and continues to produce, outstanding scientists, engineers, and doctors — yet science teaching in schools in India is in poor shape. The school system encourages rote learning and science classes seem at best to inculcate the ability rapidly to solve problems in competitive examinations. More often than not, children opt for the science stream in school not because they are enthused by the science they are learning but because it is the preferred career path for bright young girls and boys, the one that leads to entrance exams for engineering and medical courses. With the growing importance of science and technology in the modern world and for India's own future development, the system for teaching and learning science in schools must be overhauled as a matter of urgency. Science is not about memorising `facts', laws, and formulae, and figuring out how to apply them. Rather, science is about wondering why the world is so and then setting about systematically to unravel the mysteries it holds. Children are naturally observant and curious, but the way science is currently taught in schools, instead of encouraging and harnessing these desirable traits, usually suppresses them. Science is progressing ever more rapidly, and the school system should not aim to cram yet more information into pupils as preparation for the world that awaits them.

School, instead of being a competitive hurdle race, must encourage children to observe and explore the world around them, remarks a leading educationist and scientist. Science courses are the way to equip children for this lifelong quest. Primary school is not the time to burden children with a rigorous curriculum and examinations; it is the time to foster their curiosity, encourage learning through observation, and teach them to work with their hands. The Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, a unit of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, has developed primary school textbooks that introduce children to basic scientific concepts appropriate for their age through observation and simple activities. Restructuring the courses and bringing down the curriculum load is no less important at the high school level where students in the `10+2' classes experience unnecessarily high levels of stress. If the curriculum is restructured imaginatively, science courses will be easier to comprehend and less intimidating to students.

The National Council of Educational Research and Training, which was set up as an autonomous organisation to advise the Union and State Governments on school education policies, is currently carrying out its periodic National Curriculum Framework Review. An evaluation of the science curriculum in schools is being undertaken as part of this process. The review, which is expected to be completed by May 2005, can act as a beacon for change by forcefully presenting the case for reforming the way science is taught in schools. Countrywide school curricular reform is a complex and difficult process, more so because it is a subject that falls under the purview of the State Governments and resistance to change will be considerable. It is therefore particularly important that learned scientific societies and leading research institutions, which complain of declining numbers opting for careers in science, as well as industry, especially influential segments of it like information and communication technology companies and pharmaceuticals that benefit from well-trained scientific manpower, be torch-bearers for change. Better science education in schools can not only produce more creative scientists. It is also vital for developing a citizenry equipped to make informed choices and decisions in a world where scientific debates, from stem cells to nanotechnology, have a direct bearing on everyday life.

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