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Impressed by a go to to Nagpur’s open science parks, IAS officer Vivek Johnson took it upon himself to construct such facilities for the scholars of Chandrapur district in Maharashtra with hopes of instilling a love for science and play in them. This is his journey.
Born to farmer dad and mom within the tribal belt of Chandrapur, Maharashtra, Naitik Charandas Rohane aspires to grow to be a scientist. Not too long ago, the 13-year-old found his fascination for science when he began frequenting his faculty’s ‘open science park’.
Throughout lunch breaks and after faculty, he hurries to the science park the place he not solely enjoys taking part in on the swings but in addition engages himself in scientific video games.
“As and after I get time without work from my common lessons, I’m going to the science park as it is rather thrilling to study a lot in regards to the topic. As an illustration, right here I learnt about parabolic reflectors. On this, my good friend and I stand at reverse ends of the reflectors which are 20 m far off. When he speaks at one finish, the sound waves propagate to the opposite finish the place I hearken to a high-frequency sound,” the category 6 pupil tells The Higher India.
Established in an space unfold throughout 6,500 square-feet, the ‘open science park’ has grow to be the speak of the city. Not less than 28 such open science parks have been arrange throughout Chandrapur district in a bid to spice up curiosity in science amongst rural kids.
Other than this, 75 sports activities complexes have additionally been opened to faucet into the potential of rural kids in sports activities. All of this has been attainable because of the district’s chief govt officer, Vivek Johnson.
Not too long ago, the IAS officer was recognised for his outstanding efforts to rework the Chandrapur district. He was bestowed with the ‘Lokmat Maharashtrian of the 12 months’ award within the ‘IAS Promising’ class. We sat down with the IAS officer to study extra about his distinctive initiatives.
A transfer to get innovators from tribal areas
After finishing mechanical engineering in 2014, Vivek went on to pursue a profession in civil providers. This quest led him to hitch the Indian Income Providers the place he labored for 2 years and later joined the Indian Administrative Providers in 2018.
Initially from Malappuram district of Kerala, the 31-year-old was assigned Maharashtra cadre. Through the years, he labored within the Yavatmal district as an assistant collector and in October 2022, he joined the Chandrapur district as chief govt officer.
It was throughout his go to to Nagpur that he first noticed the success of a science park. This impressed him to open comparable science parks in his district. “Once I visited Nagpur, I assumed that my college students must also avail the educational experiences of an open science park,” the IAS officer tells The Higher India.
“Kids in rural areas often stay unaware of the scientific discoveries world wide. We aimed toward offering an area the place they may increase their scientific data,” he provides.
Practically a month after his posting, Vivek launched the Open Science Park initiative in Chandrapur to ignite a ardour for science and nurture the subsequent era of innovators. Past rote studying, the parks are aimed toward encouraging the exploration of recent concepts, designing experiments, offering hands-on studying experiences, and fostering a research-oriented setting.
“These parks are remodeling the best way college students have interaction with science. This may inspire the youngsters of those rural areas for increased training and careers in science and know-how,” says Vivek.
As of now, no less than 28 open science parks are operational throughout the district and 50 are extra within the pipeline. Every park has a devoted group of academics who help college students.
One such trainer is Sudhir Zade, who teaches science at an higher major faculty in Muthara village of the district.
He tells The Higher India, “The science park is open for youngsters 24×7. Right here, we’ve offered fashions to know Newton’s legal guidelines, periodic tables, photo voltaic methods, gear wheels, methods to change the frequency of sound, and chairs to know the workings of gravity. It’s designed for youngsters learning above Class 6.”
“Now we have observed that kids have began discovering ideas attention-grabbing with sensible classes on the open science park,” he provides.
Tapping rural expertise in sports activities
Aside from open science parks, Vivek launched Khelo Chanda Sports activities Complexes the identical yr in 2022. “Throughout my area visits, I’d meet a number of college students in villages who complained that they lack a devoted area to play so we determined to vary that. I had grown up taking part in so I may perceive the place they got here from,” he provides.
As a part of the initiative, 75 sports activities complexes have been constructed throughout 15 talukas of the district. These sports activities complexes present available areas for rural faculty kids to interact in bodily actions. Each sports activities advanced has operating tracks, basketball and volleyball courts. The initiative’s focus is on growth programmes to faucet into the skills of rural younger athletes and encourage their wider participation in sports activities.
“For this, we’ve utilised MGNREGA and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan funds. We used the quantity for fundamental leveling of the bottom, putting in LED lights, establishing bogs and leisure rooms,” he shares.
“I acquired good suggestions on the complexes as they’re constructed close to the colleges. Many college students have began taking part in basketball and volleyball for the primary time of their lives. A lot of these tribal college students didn’t even know the names of those sports activities initially,” he mentioned.
“At present, they’re making ready for the Khelo Chand Match India competitors,” he informs.
In all, the district utilised no less than Rs 25 lakhs to arrange every playground. It’s estimated that no less than 10,000 rural college students are availing these sports activities complexes and open science parks.
For his outstanding works, the IAS officer was just lately awarded the Bal Snehi Award from the Built-in Baby Growth Providers (ICDS) division of the Authorities of Maharashtra.
Trying on the district’s transformation, Vivek says, “I used to be impressed to grow to be an IAS officer in faculty because the canvas of this function is actually huge. We will change folks’s lives. This can be very satisfying to see that as we speak, I’m truly in a position to see that transformation. However this might not have been attainable with out the help of my Zilla Parishad (district council) group.”
(Edited by Padmashree Pande; All photographs: Raj Hiware, academic officer, Chandrapur district)
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