IIT Madras endeavours to expand its free science popularisation programme in vernacular languages, targeting 50,000 government schools by 2026, emphasising STEM career guidance
IIT Madras aims to reach 50,000 government schools by 2026 through its Science Popularisation Programme in Vernacular Languages. By 2026, IIT Madras plans to reach another 50,000 students in seven states, promoting science and career guidance in vernacular languages.
Since 2015, the initiative has reached 9,193 and distributed 3,20,702 to rural and government schools books in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
This initiative is being coordinated by V Srinivas Chakravarthy, Department of Biotechnology, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, IIT Madras. V Srinivasa Chakravarthy has also written/translated about 70 popular science books into Telugu mainly targeting high school children.
V Srinivas Chakravarthy, Department of Biotechnology, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta, School of Biosciences, IIT Madras, said, “Popular science serves as a bridge, translating complex scientific concepts into a language that makes it more accessible to a broader audience. It allows individuals without a scientific background to engage with and appreciate the beauty and importance of scientific discoveries.”
The key activities undertaken through initiative include:
Popular Science books are translated to vernacular languages and are distributed to Government school students
Provide Career Guidance to students in Vernacular languages
Motivate students on careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) through science experiments and inspirational sessions
With financial support from IIT Madras and CSR partners, V Srinivas Chakravarthy and his team have published and distributed free popular science books to rural and government schools. Over the three years, this effort had been expanded to Hindi-speaking States as well.
As part of this initiative, the school students go through a free career guidance assessment called ‘My Choice My Future’ (MCMF), a tool developed by faculty and alumni of IIT Madras in partnership with Bodh Bridge. The MCMF tool is a simple career guidance assessment that provides detailed insights. This online career guidance solution helps school students identify the right career paths based on their strengths.
This tool is currently available in seven Indian languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali and Marathi along with English. Career guidance sessions are conducted to the students on the top career with a special emphasis on STEM careers. The institute has covered 10,931 students in more than 100 schools of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal through this initiative.
