The status of 61 science clubs of South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has been upgraded by the Union Department of Science and Technology on the basis of their outstanding performance and contribution in the development of scientific aptitude of primary school students.
The officiating chairperson of the education committee of SDMC, Dr Nandini Sharma said that it is a matter of pleasure and pride that out of 233 science clubs upgraded across India in which 61 belongs to SDMC.
Elaborating it further, she said that SDMC's one science club has been upgraded to Platinum, 21 to gold, 17 to silver and 22 to bronze. "The south zone gets upgradation of 21 science clubs, Central zones get upgradation of 9, West Zone gets upgradation of 21 and Najafgarh zone gets upgradation of 10 science clubs," she added.
"It has been observed that certain science clubs are being degraded on the basis of their unsatisfactory performance but none of the science clubs under SDMC has been degraded. These science clubs have not only enhanced the moral of the students but has also made them scientifically well versed," Sharma said, adding that the civic body will honour these 61 science clubs very soon.
A senior SDMC official said that a total of 233 Science Clubs in the country including 61 clubs of the SDMC have been upgraded after a thorough evaluation of the clubs on the basis of various parameters set up for this purpose. "The evaluation was done on the level of improvement in the scientific aptitude of primary students, level of increase in interest on scientific issues, the facilities and scientific infrastructure available within clubs, frequency of detailed reports submitted by the clubs and scientific activities were undertaken during the period of evaluation," he said.
The experts from the CBSE, NCERT, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, National Science Centre and Nehru Planetarium joined their heads together for many days to assess the functioning of science clubs and the impact of the efforts made by the clubs on the students, the official said.
With an aim to develop scientific instinct in the students and provide them a platform to excel by creating useful scientific innovative instruments and machines competent enough to ensure a substantial positive change in the quality of life, the corporation had set up fully functional 100 science clubs in its 100 schools.