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Science still has its charm despite a flawed instructional approach at school level and low employability quotient. Even as there is need to rejuvenate science education, there FROM being a ‘topper's choice’ to ‘the last resort’ or ‘left over option’, pure sciences, which had ruled the priority charts of the meritorious students at undergraduate levels for almost three decades, have surely stepped aside to make way for their more 'worthy' and job-oriented hybrids like bio-technology, bio-informatics etc. The gradual but consistent decrease in the number of takers for bachelor’s courses in botany, zoology, chemistry and physics did perturb the academicians but it was only in 2008 that the enormity of situation got highlighted through a national survey published in a reputed science journal. According to this survey a total of 9.80 million students applied for graduation in 2007-2008, out of which only 1.96 million had opted for the basic science courses. More perturbing, however, was the speculated dropout rate as only 33 million of these student sat for the final exams. While almost 40 per cent of the total college admission seekers opted for pure sciences between 1995-2005, the number dropped drastically in 2008 when only 20 per cent of the total admission seekers went in for pure sciences, in contrast to 54 per cent of students opting for commerce or humanities. Graduation today is not just an academic milestone or the pre-essential for higher studies. A majority of students look forth to the employability of a course, and it where our pure sciences lose. No matter how well a student fares in the BSc course in pure sciences, the question remains that can he expect any career right after completing graduation? On the contrary students who opt for more vocationlised options like microbiology or medical physics have a better market value. No wonder then that the number of applicants for pure sciences has been dipping by almost 10 per cent every year. "Other than those looking forth to doing postgraduation or research, it’s just the engineering or medical left outs who opt for science courses, and here too many exit right after the first year," says Dr. A.C Vaid, Principal of SD College in Chandigarh, which is a premier institution in bio sciences in the region with cut off percentage for these courses hovering well above 85 per cent each year. The SD College is also the first college under Panjab University to receive a grant under the First Programme - 2010 of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. The Department of Biotechnology, Union Ministry of Science and Technology has selected eight science departments — bio-informatics, zoology, botany, physics, chemistry, biotechnology, biochemistry and microbiology of the college under the "Star College Scheme" and the UGC has granted it "college with potential for excellence" status. But here, too, the student flow towards the botany, zoology, physics and chemistry is not a very heartening one. While St Stephen’s College, Miranda House, Karori Mal College and Venkateshwara College remain the best bets for science in the Delhi-NCR region, in Punjab Modi College and Mohindra College in Patiala, Khalsa College in Amritsar and Government College, Ludhiana score high on the wishlist of those with a penchant for science. In Chandigarh Government College for Girls and DAV College, Sector 10 are among the coveted ones due to well-heeled infrastructure and experienced faculty. BSc (Hons) course is being preferred by more and more students as compared to the regular BSc. In Haryana PT NRS College in Rohtak is among the top rated colleges with the chemistry honours course being its chief strength. In Himachal Postgraduate Govt College Dharamsala and Subhas Chandra Bose PG College in Hamirpur hold the torch for students looking for science courses. Dehradun’s Dayanand Birendra Saroop College leads the pack in Uttarakhand and GGM Science College in Jammu. Well-equipped labs and experienced faculty remain the mainstay of science education and students would do well to check out on these facilities before making up their mind about a college as a science degree not backed with practical experience and excellence is nothing more than a parch of yellowing paper. The government and institutions probably do realise the danger and have been trying to find solutions by offering more scholarships, but it seems to have little impact. Why? Is it just because these courses lack the 'glamour', job assurance or are not well publicised? Three years ago the union ministry of science and technology had instituted Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) scholarships hoping that an estimated 10,000 of the top 1% students across all boards (30,000-40,000) would take up science subjects at the undergraduate level (not professional courses) and eventually move to research. But till date some 8,500 are have gone a begging. According to experts Prof Rupinder Tiwari, Coordinator, Microbial Biotechnology, Panjab University, the professional and profitable courses have sounded the death knell for sciences. The undergraduate courses had been designed as the stepping stones to specialisations. But with the change in scenario the specialisation is available at graduate level and students opting for it have an edge in industry as compared to the one going in for pure sciences. "We need to make basic sciences important in order to save them from extinction," says Tiwari. This much-dreaded 'extinction' has already been triggered with a majority of institutes, barring a few universities, across Delhi, Bangalore and even Chandigarh doing away with pure sciences or reducing the size of departments tailoring them for a handful of students willing to pursue higher studies in these subjects. But is the fading sheen just an admission season discussion? No. The problem gets graver with fact that this is probably the extinction of scientific temper amongst youngsters. Former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam had recently expressed his concern over how our institutions were producing science technicians rather than scientists. The culprit according to some is our school education system which kills curiosity, interest and love for sciences rather than nurturing it at a tender age. "Science can never be learnt or appreciated without curiosity or enjoyment. It's only the students who love science for its own sake who can opt for and be successful in pure sciences. The reason why pure science is a 'dying species' is that there are no such students left all thanks to our school education. A majority of our schools evade doing activities in primary classes, so students are never curious. The moment a student steps into class VIII the only meaning attached to science is clearing medical or entrance examination. If pure sciences have to be saved then science education in schools has to be epitomised with test tubes, vernier calipers or dissection kits rather than a set of notes to mug," says Dr A.D Ahluwalia, Professor, Center of Petroleum and Applied Geology, Panjab University. Calling his concern genuine Vineet Joshi, Chairman, CBSE , New Delhi, says the Board is at work to solve the issue.
The Awesome Foursome One ever-lasting impression that most youngsters carry in their minds is that science is for the cerebrally strong. And very true too. A well honed sense of logic, strong analytical mind and willingness to put in long hours of study are the essential skills for those jumping into the science stream. Apart from the ‘pure’ world of bio, physics and chemistry, there is now an exciting array of choices in courses and careers available for students opting for the science stream
Top of the pops SCIENCE colleges y
St Stephen’s College, Delhi y
Hans Raj College, Delhi y
Miranda House, Delhi y
GGD SD College, y
Govt College for Girls, Sector 11, Chandigarh y
Multani Mal Modi College, Patiala y
Government Mohindra College, Patiala y
Khalsa College for Women, Amritsar y
Pt. NRS Government College, Rohtak y
St Bede’s College, Shimla (Based on selected lists from India Today, Outlook and other surveys)
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Chemistry
Zoology
Botany