Sasthrapadham project is a residential camp for Plus One science students

The Samagra Shiksha, Kerala, has rolled out Sasthrapadham, an ambitious programme to fuel Plus One students’ interest in science by tying up with various colleges.

As a pilot programme this year, Sasthrapadham is envisaged as a three-day residential camp for science stream students in select colleges to provide them wider exposure to the subject than they get in their schools and outside the constraints of their curriculum. It is being held in association with the Directorate of Higher Secondary Education and the Directorate of Collegiate Education. Mr. Kuttykrishnan launched the programme at the State level at UC College.

‘Little Mathematician’

The camps, under the ‘Little Scientist, Little Mathematician’ project, will be held for two batches of students from each district. Each batch will comprise around 50 students.

Twenty-five colleges have been zeroed down to help hone students’ interest – one each in Thiruvananthapuram, Idukki, and Wayanad and two in the remaining districts.

The camps will comprise sessions on scientific awareness, history of science; biographies of scientists; visits to scientific institutions; project presentations; talks by experts on science career, science communication, current developments in science, and scientific temper; opportunity to undertake practicals in physics, chemistry, botany, and zoology labs of the colleges, presentations and discussions on developments in science and scientific issues that affect society; and field trips on nature. Maths awareness session would also be held.

The students will be aided by mentors – postgraduate students of the college and research scholars. There will be one mentor for five students. Each college will have a coordinator, subject experts in the college, who will be be in charge of the camps.

The Samagra Shiksha will funds the camps – around ₹2 lakh for each camp - and present certificates to all the participants, Suresh Kumar A.K., State Programme Officer, said. The camp will aid further mentoring of the students by the college faculty.

Samagra Shiksha State Project Director A.P. Kuttykrishnan said the camps would become a 10-day affair next year to include visits to scientific institutions so as to inspire students to learn from scientists there and go on to be mentored by them.

Select students from the camp will take part in the next stage of programmes – camps or workshops in select universities or institutions such as IITs, IISER or the IISc. to expose them to the academic environment there and inspire them to higher education in science, he said.

Four colleges

The camps got under way in four colleges on Saturday – UC College, Aluva; Government Victoria College, Palakkad; Brennen College, Thalassery; Nehru Arts and Science College, Kanhangad.