 REVAMPING SCIENCE EDUCATION

In an age when education is sought to be made universal it would be incongruous to continue with the legacies of the elitist traditions of education evolved mostly in the context of the requirements of leisured classes. Education cannot continue with its ivory tower approach and cannot go on merrily oblivious of the changes in the social and economic scene. Education has to assume a dynamic role and has to become meaningful, purposeful, useful and relevant to life. This necessarily involves appropriate changes in the curricula and content of courses as also methods of teaching, apart from the overall change in the general approach which has to permeate throughout under the new pattern of education. It is a pity that in the popular mind the structural aspect of change as reflected in the years to be spent for various stages of education under the new pattern, has received great attention to the almost exclusion or the very great changes in contents and methods of instruction. In the new approach, the gap between the world of work and the world of learning is Sought to be bridged. Education is not only to stimulate thought but also to inculcate skills for improved action. This coordination between thought and action is sure to generate a two-way process resulting in improvement in both. Whereas work will be improved with the application of knowledge itself will benefit and become more purposeful and realistic when put to use in refining and improving action.

Emphasis On Applicability

Teaching of science in this country has been becoming more and more theoretical and getting away from the realities of ordinary life resulting in loss of popularity. It is essential to evolve a new methodology of teaching science which will make the subject more interesting, more readily assimilable by the students and also restore to various science disciplines their fading vitality and popularity. Any subject which is not constantly reviewed in the matter of its contents as well as methodology of instruction in order to retain its relevance to the changing life situation, is likely to get fossilised and suffer the fate of the classics. Science can be a discipline for specialised and sophisti-

cated action, or its applicability to life situations can be underlined for the benefit of the citizens. Science, if it is to help any country in ushering in an era of science and technology, cannot ignore the needs of the citizens and has to be reoriented to help in solving problems of daily life.

The new change sought to be introduced in the method of teaching science through the scheme of project technology seeks to give a more practical bias to science teaching, pointing out at every step the relevance of science to various life situations and the way it can help to solve various problems. The whole idea is to develop science teaching around some chosen projects allied to technology. This will stimulate innovative thinking among students and will inculcate among them the scientific temper, originality, creative and improvisational abilities, which are so necessary in a society, which is trying to become increasingly technological. It also involves doing things with the hands by

the student and this naturally develops greater interest and elimi- nates some of the passivity and boredom which are associated with the class-room situation.

Science education which is really meant to train students to observe, to analyse, to infer and to generalise, has not been having its full impact. Following the new method of project technology, it is hoped that proper scientific attitudes and creative abilities will be stimulated and quite a few young students will be launched on voyages of discovery on their own.

Inter-disciplinary Approach

Another advantage of the project technology is that it very often encourages the interdisciplinary approach which develops a wider understanding of the unity underlying all knowledge and also brings people from various disciplines together fostering a team spirit which in these days is most essential for any significant achievement in any field. This method also eliminates the isolation of science from the community by creating an awareness of the social, economic and moral problems.

Recently the method of project technology was tried by the Central Board of Secondary Education in a Workshop at Lawrence School, Sanawar, which was attended by 21 teachers from schools in different parts of the country and was guided by experts from India and abroad. This quiet workshop away from the maddening crowds, generated tremendous interest among the participants. As a matter of fact their absorption in their work all the day long was to be seen to be believed. Their complete concentration through long hours indicated the strong motivating effect of project technology. If the introduction of this programme in schools results in the same motivation and the development of the same interest among students, it will be a breakthrough in solving many of the ills of the present-day education. This small workshop has thrown up very fruitful ideas and has shown the great potentialities of the project technology for more purposeful teaching of science.

It has been decided that suitable follow-up action will be initiated with the help of these 21 teachers and it would be possible to generate a snow-ball movement in order to cover all the thou-

sand schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education in about a couple of years. Some of the projects designed and completed at Sanawar were very interesting and useful. The chief characteristic of these projects was that very cheap and improvised material had been used. It is hoped that the habit of improvisation, experimentation and innovation when properly developed and emphasized would become a life-long asset and for our socio-economic development this type of asset is most urgently needed.