“Vigyan Yatra” for the School Students of Punjab, to Infuse Scientific Temper in them

In a bid to imbibe scientific temper amongst the students of 6th class onwards, the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today approved ‘Mukh Mantri Vigyan Yatra’ scheme to initially undertake an excursion trip of nearly 28,000 students from the Government schools of Punjab, free of cost to the Pushpa Gujral Science City, Kapurthala during current fiscal and 4 lac in the next fiscal.

Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said that Mr. Badal had been deeply concerned over the issue of disinterest shown by the students consistently in the subjects of Science and Mathematics in government schools and had several brainstorming sessions with eminent academicians and educationists to reverse this trend. After the brainstorming sessions, Mr. Badal has decided to launch this novel scheme to inculcate interest in these subjects through activity based learning and innovative ideas.

Under the scheme, over four lac students from class 6th onwards of Government schools would be taken for an excursion to Pushpa Gujral Science City, Kapurthala at state government’s expenditure during the next financial year. The sole objective of this scheme was to apprise them of various scientific activities related to earth and universe to re-kindle an urge for scientific temper and quest for advanced learning in these subjects. Mr. Badal said this was the need of the hour to make a paradigm shift in student’s mindset to develop aptitude and curiosity for knowledge in science subjects to enable them to compete globally with their peers during their pursuit of excellence and professional career. The schedule of first phase of excursion trip was likely to begin from February 11, 2016, the spokesperson added.

Pushpa Gujral Science City is the biggest project of its kind in Northern India has been set up in 72 acres of land. It is intended to inculcate the scientific aptitude & temperament, to fire the imagination and creativity, foster the spirit of enquiry and exploration among the masses, especially in the young minds. The subject areas covered include physical, applied, natural and social sciences, engineering, technology, agriculture, health sciences, energy, industries, human evolution and civilization, the environment, ecosystems, Jurassic parks as well as frontier areas like space, nuclear science, information technology, robotics and Bio-technology.