Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi   

Students moot projects to nurture nature, mankind

—Photo: R. Ashok

INSPIRATION: Chief Educational Officer K. Swaminathan honours Priyadarshini, a student of one of the special schools run by CHEERS for child labourers, at the valediction of the district-level exhibition on Sunday. To the CEO’s right is Institute Director M. Chidambaram.

TIRUCHI: The topic ‘Planet Earth: Our Home, Explore, Care and Share,’prompted the 76 teams constituting 400 student participants of the 17th National Children Science Congress 2009 to evolve methodologies to nurture nature and mankind, at the National Institute of Technology – Tiruchi.

By and large, the project reports they came up with on issues of international importance like solid waste management, use of bio-pesticides and fertilisers, bringing down temperature through expanding green cover, and combating the different forms of pollution impressed the judges from the Bharathidasan University, Anna University and District Institute of Education and Training (DIET).

At the valediction of the two-day district-level project exhibition organised by the Tamil Nadu Science Forum (TNSF) on Sunday, the performance of erstwhile child-labourers studying in schools run by CHEERS (Child Labour Elimination and Effective Rehabilitation Society) earned the special praise of the speakers.

According to N. Manimekalai, Honorary Chairperson of the TNSF Tiruchi Unit, junior students appeared more spontaneous in making their presentations. The onus was on the present generation of students to arrive at effective and permanent solutions for sustainable development of the planet in the backdrop of depletion of natural resources, she said.

Presiding over, M. Chidambaram, NIT-T Director, felt that the exhibition oriented students to the nuances of effective presentation.

He advised them to take to self-learning as they go to higher classes. Dr. Chidambaram emphasised on the need for children to be inquisitive and have group discussions on topics of importance on a constant basis.

Honouring nine teams with prizes, the Chief Educational Officer, K. Swaminathan, felt students were bound to perform well with the right encouragement from parents and teachers.

The State Government, he said, was taking effective measures to develop scientific temperament among students through making conduct of school-level exhibitions mandatory.

S. Sivakumar, Senior Lecturer, DIET, oriented the students on the strategies for striking an ebullient balance between scientific pursuits and academic rigour while L. Malmurugan, Principal, Oxford Engineering College, urged students to shed fear and be inquisitive.

Irrespective of whether students studied in rural or urban schools, developing a strong scientific basis will stand them in good stead, he said. K. Ashok Chakravarthy, Lecturer, Department of Environmental Sciences, St. Joseph’s College cited instances of how students registering high performances were sought after by higher educational institutions.

S. Mohana, State Coordinator, NCSC 2009, pointed out that the reach of the project exhibition among then people was phenomenal.

As many as 400 students were involved in each district, she said. S. Natarajan, TNSF District unit Secretary; K. Suresh, Member, TNSF State Executive Committee, and P.M. Sabarikumar, District Coordinator NCSC, spoke.

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