A three day science programme was organized be Sri Sivananda Balalaya, Department of Educational Technology, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, and Tamilnadu Science and Technology Center, Chennai. The Resource Persons were Prof. Samar Kumar Bagchi, Formerly Director, Birla Industrial and Technological Museum, Kolkata, and Dr. B.N.Das, Visiting Professor of Physics, Presidency College, Kolkata. On the first day they addressed the college students on “Environment and Development”.
The second and third day of the three day workshop were exclusively for the Science Teacher Community of schools. This part of the Science Programme was inaugurated by Dr. Ponnavaikko, Vice Chancellor, Bharathidasan University. Welcoming him, Ms. Meenakshi, Correspondent, Sri Sivananda Balalaya, referred to the “University- Schools Link” initiative taken by the Vice Chancellor and pointed out that the workshop was the outcome of this initiative. The objective of the workshop was to train the teachers to teach science in a creative and innovative manner so as to kindle the curiosity of the students and motivate them to experiment and explore the natural phenomena. In his inaugural address the Vice Chancellor observed that the gaps in the curriculum among various stages of education should be removed to ensure continuity in the knowledge acquisition. He announced that the Educational Technology Department of the University would set up a lab named after the resource persons, “Bagchi – Das Lab” where the teachers could go and try experiments and update their skill and knowledge.
