Teachers need to ask themselves whether they are really able to inspire students to take up a career in pure sciences, Director State Council for Educational Research and Training M.S.S. Lakshmi Watts said.
The students who show inquisitiveness and spirit of scientific enquiry often land up taking conventional courses and careers, this is an indication of the inability of the teachers in making the students choose a career in scientific research, she said at the inaugural of the three-day State-level INSPIRE Science Exhibition II that got under way here on Saturday.
The INSPIRE Award programme would help the students take keen interest in sciences, she hoped.
The three-day exhibition is the second State-level exhibition, the first was conducted in Chittoor.
It has 506 exhibits from six districts – Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East and West Godavari and Krishna – and from among these 26 would be selected for representing the State at the National level exhibition, District Educational Officer M. Venkata Krishna Reddy said. Speaking at the inaugural a number of public representatives urged Minister for HRD and Education Ganta Srinivasa Rao, who was chief guest, to address some of the issues regarding teachers and schools.
Teachers’ Constituency MLC Gade Srinivasulu Naidu wanted the Minister to set up a building for the Education Department in the district which could host programmes like the science exhibition as well as be used as a venue for spot valuation.
Anakapalle MLA Peela Govinda Satyanarayana wanted the Minister to include general knowledge in the school curriculum and noted that many teachers in the Government schools lacked focus. He also wanted the Education Department to focus on Hindi teaching in schools.
Visakha North MLA P. Vishnu Kumar Raju presided over the inaugural function in which Visakha South MLA Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar, Visakha West MLA P.G.V.R. Naidu, Gajuwaka MLA Palla Srinivas Rao, and District Collector N. Yuvaraj and students and teachers from different schools in the six districts attended.
