The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : How to spot Nobel laureates in making

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Friday, Jan 30, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

How to spot Nobel laureates in making

Staff Reporter

“A Research Science Institute needed in India”

— Photo: R.Shivaji Rao

Joann DiGennaro

CHENNAI: Joann DiGennaro, President, Centre for Excellence in Education, USA, is in the city to interact with school principals on how exceptionally talented and gifted children can be trained in science to become future Nobel laureates.

At a meeting convened by the Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan group of schools on Thursday, she spoke on the need to set up a Research Science Institute (RSI) in India, on the lines of a similar facility in the USA.

The flagship programme of RSI in the USA is an intensive six-week enrichment programme in which high school students with demonstrated academic excellence and creative abilities are nurtured to pursue scientific research and contribute through innovations and “quantum leaps in thinking”.

The panel looked out for high levels of proficiency in mathematics and other science subjects, she said. Contrary to perception, most of the participants were from middle-class families, had attended public school and nearly half of them were female, Ms.DiGennaro said.

Emphasising that every country needed its top achievers to compete in the global economy, she cited the case of China. It had invested in education in such a way that the brightest students were mentored to excel in their field.

Dean and director of PSBB group of schools Mrs.Y.G.Parthasarathy said the economic boom had weaned away the student community from research. But the situation is fast changing,” she said.

Around 30 teachers and school principals participated.

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