Hyderabad: CCMB, TSWREIS develop a creative programme for students

Hyderabad: The CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), in collaboration with the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS), developed a children-centred programme, called Milo, for students of TSWREIS.

For the programme, which started during the Covid pandemic, the CCMB scientists made animated videos for six months on some of their well-known work which were easy to align with high school curricula and had interactions with TSWREIS students for six months.

Following this, some of the best TSWREIS students were selected to spend a week at CCMB on the basis of a quiz. They did hands-on experiments. Activities were designed to help them understand their prescribed school syllabus better as well as to connect with the work that happens in a research institute. "The Milo CCMB programme aims to create role models in the TSWREIS community who are aware of the scientific advances and possess problem-solving abilities. We strongly believe that these skills are important for the young people of India, no matter what careers they choose for themselves," said Dr Somdatta Karak, Science Communication and Outreach Officer, CCMB, and Lead, Milo CCMB.

"In a country like India, most students, who pursue science, are interested in vocational subjects like engineering and medicine. A few who pursue sciences as career often always come from privileged backgrounds. This causes only a select section of society to be involved in knowledge generation, who also decide the kinds of solutions that are designed from the knowledge generated. We need much greater participation of people from diverse backgrounds for science to be accessible to society," said Dr Vinay Nandicoori, Director, CCMB.

"We are extremely happy to collaborate with CCMB on the Milo CCMB project. Our students have enjoyed learning about research at CCMB and interacting with the CCMB scientists. We are positive that this internship serves as a launch-pad for their future research career," said Praveen Mamidala, joint secretary (Higher Education), TSWREIS.