The National Space Day and Vigyan Jyoti Program are great initiatives by the Prime Minister to inculcate scientific awareness about space exploration and STEM in general among school children in our country. Under the leadership of Director Prof. Rajiv Prakash, IIT Bhilai is committed to nurturing activities in STEM fields, such as space science, in the region of Chhattisgarh.
IIT Bhilai welcomed 50 students from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Borai, Durg, along with their teacher Mrs. Tandra Dhar, for an event leading up to the National Space Day. The students arrived in the morning along with their school representatives. This event, conducted at IIT Bhilai, is part of the DST Funded Vigyan Jyoti program, designed to motivate and increase the participation of girl students in the field of STEM.
Dr. Md Mehboob Alam, Assistant Professor at IIT Bhilai and Nodal Officer for the Vigyan Jyoti Program, along with Dr. Mahavir Sharma, Assistant Professor of Astronomy, Department of Physics, inaugurated the program with an introductory speech. The school students and Vigyan Jyoti scholars then interacted with BTech students of IIT Bhilai, asking numerous questions about IIT-JEE and student life at IIT Bhilai.
Following these interactions, the Vigyan Jyoti scholars were introduced to space science by members of the Space Exploration Society (SES) at IIT Bhilai. An educational documentary on the achievements of the Indian space program, ISRO and Chandrayaan was screened for the school students and Vigyan Jyoti scholars. The students were then given hands-on experience with telescopes and introduced to space observations. They also visited various labs at IIT Bhilai, where they learned about sophisticated scientific instruments such as NMR, TEM, and Lithography.
Dr. Alam and Dr. Sharma emphasized the importance and success of such programs in motivating students towards STEM fields, such as space science. Space science is a main focus at IIT Bhilai, which offers courses and equipment to train its students and those in the regional area.