Mobile science vans to educate 16,000 govt school students

Hyderabad: Mobile Science Vans laden with 200 models and 500 science experiments is on the roads now. The two mobile science vans were just flagged off here in the city on Wednesday.

 The vans, as part of the project ‘Aqriti’ taken by United Way of Hyderabad in association with Qualcomm India will go around the government schools to showcase the models and experiments and help students better understand and learn science, said Rekha Srinivasan, Executive Director, United Way of Hyderabad.

The vans will be made available as ‘Science Labs on Wheels’ for government schools and will benefit 16,000 students. Aavishqar, an annual science fair which provides underprivileged girls a platform to hone their skills and perspective to thrive in the field of technology was conducted recently with the same purpose. About 268 children from various government schools participated in the Aavishqar Science Fair.

Rekha urged the students to take advantage of the Mobile Science Vans, ask questions and learn from the models and projects on display. 200 models based on NCERT syllabus for upper primary and high school students will be made available. With the help of the teacher lessons will be taught, lab setup and experiments shown and done. 

We want to setup Science labs in each government school. This year we have started with two mobile science vans which were flagged off today. We plan to launch two science labs this year soon, said Ms. Rekha. The mobile science lab is the need of the hour.  It inspires curiosity, encourages creativity, critical thinking among the students in government schools through hands-on, interactive learning methods for science education.  Aqriti is an initiative launched to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education among under-represented girls. 

The probability of girls choosing STEM related-education is unfortunately bleak.  According to the study by Grant Thornton, India ranks third lowest in the proportion of business leadership roles held by women and 34% of the Indian businesses surveyed have no women in leadership. This alarming statistic calls for immediate action and ‘Aqriti’ aims to nip this challenge in the bud by making STEM education accessible to girl child.