By Fakir Balaji, IANS
Visakhapatnam : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday declared here the centre would work with state governments and universities to launch a new revolution in modern education, especially science education.
Inaugurating the 95th Indian Science Congress (ISC) at the sprawling Andhra University campus in this coastal city, Singh called upon the academia and the scientific community to make 2008 the year of revitalising science education in India.
“I urge our science community to show us the way ahead. We need a quantum jump in science education and research. This agenda can no longer wait.
“I am aware that we need policy reform, institutional reform, organisational reform and more investment in science education,” Singh told about 6,000 delegates from India and abroad participating in the five-day session.
Making a personal commitment towards an affirmative action for rejuvenating science education, Singh said the time had come for action, as the nation could not afford to miss the bus or delay matters further.
“Our government is committed to investing more, much more in education, especially science education. The 11th five-year plan is, in fact, a national education plan. The plan allocation for education has been stepped up to 19 percent of gross budgetary support in the 11th plan (2007-12) from 7.7 percent in the 10th plan.
“It is a five-fold increase in spending on education. This is an unprecedented increase in financial support for education in the sub-continent,” the prime minister asserted.
Unfolding his government’s plans to prop up science education, Singh told the delegates the centre was funding to set up 30 new central universities, five Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISE&R), eight more Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), seven new Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and 20 Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) across the country.
“We are also launching a national mission on vocational education and skill development by opening 1,600 new industrial training institutes (ITIs) and polytechnics, 10,000 vocational schools and 50,000 skill development centres in all the states and union territories,” he affirmed.
To enlarge the pool of scientific manpower and foster research in multi-disciplinary sciences, the science and technology ministry will launch a special programme – “Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research”.
Under the programme, spread over five years, one million school students will be given science innovation scholarships of Rs.5,000 each. The plan will also offer 10,000 scholarships of Rs.100,000 each per year to talented students pursuing higher education in science courses.
Referring to the plan strategy to promote science education, the prime minister said the aim was to expand and strengthen the science and technology (S&T) base in universities and promote excellence through competitively secured funding at centres for advanced research.
“We must make science a preferred discipline of study for our students. We must attract the best and the brightest to science. We need both a qualitative improvement and a quantitative expansion in the pool of science students.
“To achieve these primary objectives, we need an army of teachers, especially in basic sciences and mathematics. Shortage of good teachers is an immediate challenge,” Singh pointed out.
In this context, the prime minister called upon the academic community to explore out-of-box solutions to fight the challenge of shortage. “The academia will have to come up with innovative ideas and creative thinking,” he added.
Singh also unveiled the science exhibition christened “Bharat Expo” after declaring the ISC open.
The mega event, being held here after a gap of 32 years, is focusing on transforming India into a developed nation in the coming decades using science and technology and creating a knowledge-based society.
Indian Science Congress Association ((ISCA) president R. Ramamurthi set the tone of the session by highlighting the objectives of ISC 2008 and the thrust areas that merit attention and priority of the academia, industry, society, government and allied agencies.
In his address, Union minister for science and technology and earth science Kapil Sibal exhorted the scientific community to conduct research in climate change for assessing its affect in the sub-continent.
To facilitate the research, Sibal said his ministries would set up a group on climate change adaptation to provide appropriate technology for tackling the adjustment problem.
“The twin ministries will set up a centre for climate change at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune for studying the scientific issues related to global warming and climate change. We are also modernising the weather forecasting facilities in the Indian met department,” Sibal declared.
Among the dignitaries present on the dais were Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajashekara Reddy, central ministers from the host state Dasari Narayana Rao, M.M. Pallam Raju and T. Subbarami Reddy.
Noted scientists and scholars, including scientific advisor to the government R. Chidambaram, M.S. Swaminathan, C.N.R. Rao, M.G.K. Menon, U.R. Rao and Nobel laureates Roger Kornberg and Paul Nurse from the US attended the inaugural event.
The venue for the inaugural session was turned into a fortress, with a swarm of special protection group personnel and gun-toting commandoes throwing a security blanket around the VIP enclosure.
About 2,000 policemen were deployed in and around the Andhra University grounds to maintain vigil and frisk every delegate, using metal detectors as well.