KOCHI: If one wants to get an idea of what neglect and apathy can do to projects, they just have to pop into the Science Park and Museum at SRV School here. The park and museum - set up in 2006 and inaugurated by the then President A P J Abdul Kalam - today presents a sorry state. Recently, after visiting the museum, Education Minister C Raveendranath, who was appalled by its shoddy state, had directed the school authorities to come up with a plan to spruce it up.
However, according to the school authorities, sprucing it up or carrying out maintenance work alone will not be enough. “The museum is spread out in three rooms located in the higher secondary section of the school,” said the authorities. According to them, though the idea of setting up a science park and museum was good, nobody gave a thought to the fact that someone was needed to take care of it.
“The museum was set up as a result of the efforts of the Old Students’ Association of the school. Its functioning came directly under the Education Department,” said another official.
According to them, when the park and museum were set up they were equipped with exhibits such as rockets and satellites supplied by the ISRO, the Southern Naval Command, Cochin Shipyard and the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. “There was also a medical gallery. An adjoining marine museum had marine equipment, including replicas of original ship engines, supplied by the Navy from the Pune-based INS Shivaji Engineering College,” he said. However, after the initial euphoria, the excitement died out.
“Initially, students of the school and also neighbouring institutions visited the park,” said a teacher. However, according to the teacher, the initiative became a strain to the teachers of the school.
“Whenever visitors come, we had to depute a teacher as a guide. This disrupted the classes to which the teacher was assigned. Also, the arrival of the visitors disturbed the classes in session,” said the teacher. Later on, it was suggested that students can be roped in to run the museum. “But the parents objected to it and no one can fault them for that,” said the teacher.
According to school authorities, if the Education Department wants the school to run the park and the museum, then it will have to create a new post. “A person needs to be appointed solely as caretaker and guide. However, creating a post also takes a very long process.Earlier, attenders used to clean the rooms. But nothing of the sort happens now,” said a school official.