India's budding Einsteins, Newtons and Farradays will emerge not from its cities but from its villages, and it is here that science education should be given the greatest impetus, C.N.R. Rao, Chairman of the Vision Group for Science and Technology, government of Karnataka, has said.
Calling for more scholarships for students in rural Karnataka, Prof. Rao said that quality education was the key to the country's development. Prof. Rao, who is also the honorary president of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, was delivering the inaugural address at the State Science and Technology Conference-2010 on the theme ‘Science and Technology for Sustainable Development' here on Thursday.
“India's much-celebrated economic growth rate eludes the majority of the population,” he said, and added that encouraging teachers was vital for the country's future. Agreeing with him, Director of the Indian Institute of Science P. Balaram said that the new 1,000-acre campus acquired by the institute recently in Chitradurga would take on among other programmes, training of college and university teachers.
Refresher courses
“It will be our endeavour to train the next generation of teachers and also provide refresher courses for them,” he said. Prof. Rao added that research activities at the new campus would focus on sustainable technologies such as solar energy.
Principal Secretary, State Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science and Technology, Ashok Kumar Manoli, spoke.
The three-day conference, organised by the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology, the Vision Group for Science and Technology and the Department of Science and Technology, government of Karnataka, will look at the role of science in sectors such as energy, industry, health, water and education.
