Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday emphasized the need to enable school science education reforms by improving teaching, science curricular, motivating science teachers and introducing schemes for early attraction of talent to science.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was speaking after inaugurating 43rd Jawaharlal Nehru National Science Mathematics Environment Exhibition-2016, organized by the state government in association with National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
The chief minister said the exhibition was being organized by the NCERT every year to encourage, popularize and inculcate scientific temper among the children. “This type of events provide a forum for the children to showcase their talent and creativity too. Children with scientific temper will never stop questioning, observing physical reality, testing, analyzing and communicating. It is our duty to create such platforms. It also makes learning a better and fun experience for children. The study of science should begin early in life. The first step is to inculcate the habit of observation among children. Their curiosity should be fostered and developed,’’ the chief minister said.
Recalling the contribution of various scientists in the fields of innovation, research and sustainable development, the chief minister said that innovation and research both in basic and applied sciences could be fostered and developed to its full potential with the academia, industry and government working in tandem. “I urge the academia and industry to come forward and collaborate with the government for research, for continuing education and develop a strong producer-consumer interaction between the academia and industry. There is a need to create a robust national innovation system. Innovation has become increasingly resource intensive which requires the participation of international consortia, evolving various public private partnership (PPP) models facilitating private sector investment, permitting multi-stakeholder participation, modifying the intellectual property rights (IPR) policy by providing marching rights for social good and knowledge commons, that is, co-sharing of IPRs generated under PPP and open source approaches,’’ he said.
Stating that science should not remain within the confines of a laboratory, he said the science should be brought to the people and help in making their daily life better and efficient with affordable technology. “Public understanding of science is an important dimension for introducing and reaching the benefits of modern science and technology to the people,’’ he said.
