Bhubaneswar, July 24: Vigyan Pratibha (VP), a novel initiative of the Government of India under the Department of Atomic Energy for extended nurturing of talent in Science and Mathematics among school students from Class VIII to Class X in Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs), Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs), and Atomic Energy Central schools (AECs) across the country was launched.
The programme was initiated in Maharastra and West Bengal last year.
The launch event at Vigyan Pratibha in Odisha was jointly conducted recently by the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) and the Institute of Physics (IOP) which will act as the regional Centre for the Vigyan Pratibha project.
The key aspect of the programme is that science circles in schools, in which students will conduct learning units developed as part of the programme, will also have an exposure dimension in which the students will get to see high-end scientific research facilities by visits to national scientific institutions.
Around 60 participants, mostly principals and senior teachers from various KVs, JNVs and AECs in Odisha participated in the launch ceremony held at NISER, Jatni.
NISER director Sudhakar Panda inaugurated the function. Dr Ankush Gupta from the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE), TIFR Mumbai, introduced the action plan of the VP project and demonstrated various learning units of VP programme. Dr Debasmita P Alone and Prof Biju Sekar, coordinators of VP programme from NISER and IOP discussed the details of formulating steps for a successful implementation of the project.