A discarded piece of material can become a model. A classroom can become a laboratory. And a government-school teacher can turn a school in Maloya Colony into a space where children do much more than reading about science, they experience it.
At Government Model High School, Maloya Colony, he has created a 3D dome theatre, science and knowledge park, weather station, child-centric laboratory and a science lab on a cart. But the award is only the latest milestone in a record that stretches back more than a decade. The impact of that exposure has gone beyond competitions. One of his students has travelled to Japan under the Sakura Science Exchange Programme, giving a government-school child an opportunity to participate in an international science exchange. Jaiswal has also taken his approach outside his own school.
For 44-year-old science teacher Ravi Kumar Jaiswal, this has been a years-long experiment. For 11 consecutive years, students from his school have been selected for the Rashtriya Bal Vaigyanik Pradarshani, organised by NCERT, and have reached the national level.
Jaiswal says the ideas and creations behind these initiatives are his own. As a member of a scientific literacy group, he has contributed to efforts to make science accessible through a cartoon-based magazine, featuring a character called “Harshit” to connect scientific concepts with children.
