After a dip, renewed interest in science

NEWDELHI: In what could indicate a renewed interest among children to study science subjects, there has been an increase in the proportion of students enrolling in the science stream in higher secondary schools across the country.

On an average, 33% students opt for sciences in higher secondary every year. Now, according to recent Unified-District Information System on Education (U-DISE), the number of students enrolling for science subjects has increased from 6.2 million in 2014-15 to 7.9 million in 2015-16.

The period also saw a 16% increase in the enrolment of students in higher secondary education from 19.9 million in 2014-15 to 23.2 million in 2015-16.

Enrolment in sciences had dipped by 2 percentage points in the previous year, 2014-15, but the subsequent rise has cheered scientists educators who point to the need to instil a scientific temper among children.

“There are perils of lack of scientific temper in the society. So, the need is to encourage interest for science among youth, to encourage them to question,” said professor Soumitro Banerjee, from Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata.

Calling it is a good sign, profes- sor Anil Gupta from IIM-Ahmedabad, a noted scholar in grassroots innovation said, “More students in sciences would improve capabilities of society for technological advances, but it does not apparently indicate improvement in scientific temper. Science as a subject needs more attention in schools, especially in rural schools which are still struggling with ill-equipped laboratories. Scientific temper would improve only when Science is taught through experiments to create awareness, generate curiosity.”

The survey covered as many as 250,000 schools, including 170,000 in rural areas across all 36 states and Union territories. While 21.8% of higher secondary schools offered the science stream, only 32% of them had separate biology laboratories and 33.8% had separate laboratories for physics and chemistry.

However, Chandigarh-based CBSE counsellor Rakesh Sachdeva said mostly students opt for a stream under parental or peer pressure.

Changing career preferences could be driving the interest in studying science subjects after a move to commerce some years ago, said Ammeta Wattal, principal of Springdales School, New Delhi.

“There has been a sort of renaissance of scientific awareness and interest in sciences has begun to resurface,” Wattal said.