BENGALURU: To promote ‘Science for All’, the Karnataka government on Sunday announced that all government high schools will have access to microscopes and telescopes to encourage scientific temper among children at an early age.
Minister for Minor Irrigation, Science, and Technology NS Boseraju has instructed officials from his department to design a new policy ‘Provide Access to Telescopes’ (PAT).
The success of Chandrayaan-3 and India’s moon landing on the South Pole has had a ripple effect on youngsters who have been deeply inspired to learn more about space and astronomy. “The PAT policy aims to provide access to telescopes in rural and Kannada medium government high schools to foster scientific temper and astronomical curiosity among Classes 8 to 10 students.
In addition to raising space awareness, it will give students the chance to discover the vast sky and gain knowledge about astronomical objects. We hope that this policy will spark an interest in astronomy and space sciences at an early age among students,” the minister added.
Currently, Karnataka has two regional science centres, two planetariums, and eight regional science centres. There are also 11 mobile observatories in operation. The Department of Science and Technology will take up the PAT project with the goal of increasing interest in scientific subjects among state students. Through the new policy, teachers will also receive training on how to use them to instruct students. The minister directed the officials concerned to develop the necessary programmes and policies.