STEM, an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics is a
term typically used to address education policy and curriculum choices in schools
to improve competitiveness in science and technology development. It has
implications for workforce development, skill development, and several other
initiatives that the Government is focussing on.
Encouraging STEM education, especially among girl children is a priority area in
the whole World and in India too. Raman Science Centre Nagpur in collaboration
with Covestro, Greenlight for Girls, and the Chandramohan Foundation, has
organised a two day hands on workshop for nearly 500 girl students from Class 8
to Class 11 of Nagpur schools on 14th and 15th December, 2018.
The event was inaugurated on 14th December 2018. After introductory addresses
by the Project Coordinator of the Centre, Sh. N. Ramdas Iyer and the Managing
Director of Covestro, Mr. Jai Durrani, Dr. Neha Phadke, a research chemist from
Covestro spoke to the girls on the excitement of science. Thereafter Prof. Jyotsna
Meshram, HoD, Chemistry, RTMNU spoke about her area of specialisation and
how she came to take up science as a career and succeed in it. The students were
then taken to the labs where they performed three exciting experiments in three
different fields. The students were so excited when they synthesized their own
DNA, prepared a Putty and fabricated a circuit to make the LED light glow and
blink.
The programme concluded on 15th December with a valedictory oration by Smt.
Kanchan Gadkari, renowned social worker. She also emphasized on the efforts by
such organizations to uplift the girl students in the field of Science & Technology
so that they are involved in the research activities. He said the girl students have
the potential to do wonders in this field; such workshops will certainly help them
in igniting the minds of Girl Students.
