LUCKNOW: It is an amazing experience for residents of villages of districts like Bulandshahr and Bijnor in western UP as they embark upon a sojourn to the world of stars to unravel the mysteries of the galaxy every afternoon by visiting the astronomy labs equipped with high-end telescopes set up in state council schools – both primary and upper primary.
Two years after the initiative began, it continues to excite villagers -- schoolchildren and elders -- alike. The immediate impact of these astro labs has been a jump in daily attendance of students in schools. The telescope at one such astro lab in Nizampur village in Bulandshahr has shattered the charm of the moon, which Ram Swarup Bhati, 64, witnesses daily on the horizon. “It is not as beautiful as it looks in the sky with the naked eye, it is rather full of dark craters,” he says, amused. On the other hand, the stars shining even during the daytime when viewed through the telescope are enough to take the curiosity of Sumit, 12, about the mysteries of space to another level.
Sumit studies in Mukundgarhi village panchayat school of Bulandshahr and is among the many such curious students who hardly miss school because of the period when they are taken to the astro lab to float in space with stars and celestial bodies.
Even the women of Mukundgarhi village gather at the astro lab to explore the world of stars through the telescope every night after winding up their household chores.
As per the then Bulandshahr CDO Abhishek Pandey, the initiative for setting up astro labs was taken in 2021 in consonance with the New Education Policy of the central government. Initially, there was a proposal for setting up 160 such labs in gram panchayats but only 100 have been agreed. However, so far, 109 such labs have been established in Bulandshahr.
Each lab, equipped with a telescope, spectrometer, space missions, star charts, panels of the solar system, virtual reality goggles, and a variety of pedagogical tools and models, related to various scientific hypotheses, costs around Rs 2.5 lakh and the funds are managed from the UP government’s Operation Kayakalp – a scheme floated to upgrade school infrastructure.
The lab is decorated as a celestial object with dark and vibrant coloured walls both outside and inside it. Moreover, the inside ambience reflects the night sky with stars, galaxies, Sun and moon painted all over. "The ambience triggers curiosity about the space sciences among the students and sustains their interest in the aspects of astronomy through experiential learning," says Savita Chaudhury, the science teacher at the school in Nizampur village. The endeavour has also been helpful in creating a 'sense for science' not only in school children but among adults as well.
The teachers in the astro labs in the primary and upper primary schools had to go through a rigorous training session. Furthermore, the Bulandshahr administration collaborated with startup Spark Astronomy of Aryan Mishra, the country’s youngest astronomer, as the knowledge partner for a better training process and setting up of labs.
Now, the village kids are aware of the contributions of the likes of Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Willams to the space sciences, drawing inspiration from them and being ready to follow in their footsteps. Rohit Rana, 13, of Class 8 has decided to adopt space research as his career option.
The creation of such astro labs in western UP villages has created a buzz even outside the country. Moved by the endeavour, the British High Commission had donated 35 computers to these labs to process streaming data from dozens of telescopes across the world, says the CDO, Bulandshahr.
He also believes that such methods of experiential learning provide the teachers with a variety of options to communicate to the children. It leads the students to improve their vocabulary, communication skills with better insight about the subject and their self-confidence. Moreover, the initiative came in handy in drawing the students to schools after a COVID sabbatical.