GUWAHATI, Aug 17 � As a part of the endeavour to provide the corresponding laboratory course to compliment science lecture courses to students to ensure better understanding concepts, the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), Assam, in collaboration with the Assam State Technology and Environment Society (ASTEC) and the United Nations Children�s Fund (UNICEF) recently launched mobile science laboratory for students of the State.
The mobile science laboratory, launched on the Independence Day, is aimed at providing hands-on experience to students of secondary and higher secondary classes in various districts of Assam, where there is no access of laboratory facilities.
Two laboratory vehicles have been put into service for use in the districts of Kamrup Metro, Kamrup and Jorhat. For this purpose, 60 teachers were trained by renowned scientists of the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Mumbai, and professors from Cotton College, Handique College and Vidhya Vahini, Pune, to act as facilitators.
The vehicles have been handed over to the Jorhat Science Centre and Planetarium and the Assam Science Society, Khanapara, for implementation of the scheme at the ground level.
It was done under a project approved under the Chief's Minister�s Innovative Scheme for quality science education for children in secondary and higher secondary sections.
Officials said it is an outreach programme for such students to make science attractive and interesting in schools and that in order to ensure quality in secondary education providing science laboratories is an immediate and urgent need.
As construction of infrastructure at mass level is time-consuming, the mission sets to pursue an innovative scheme to provide the students with the opportunity of a science laboratory in the form of a mobile science lab.
This is intended to give the students in the secondary schools a chance to learn science by performing experiments, thus providing not only the pleasure of �learning by doing� but also making the subject enjoyable and easy to understand.
It is also aimed at inculcating and nurturing a scientific attitude among schoolchildren.
Commenting on the project, ASTEC head (in-charge) of the science and technology division, Dr Ranjit Kumar Barman said, �This is a first-of-its-kind scheme for secondary and higher secondary students anywhere in the country and the labs will not only help students in urban areas but also those who are in remote and far-flung localities.�
The mobile science laboratory is aimed at providing schoolchildren with the opportunity to handle scientific apparatus and learn the basics of science through experiments, besides to create awareness of the relevance of science in the lives of schoolchildren.
It will also be helpful in spreading the message in rural communities that science can help solve the problems of everyday life and in exposing students to new ideas, to increase their curiosity, power of observation and assimilation level.