Chennai: There was excitement in the air as 50 students and two teachers from government schools were about to travel to Europe. For most of them it was the first travel outside the state.
The young and aspiring scientists from remote corners of the state will be travelling to Finland and Sweden on an education trip from January 21 to 30.
On Sunday, the school education department had arranged a send-off for them at the Anna Centenary Library. For parents hailing from humble backgrounds, there could not have been a bigger recognition of their wards’ talent.
“During the trip, these students will visit schools, colleges, universities and research labs and museums. A journey by ship has also been arranged for them,” said Ms C. Kalaivani, one of the two teachers accompanying the students on the trip.
Of the 50 students, 36 are boys and 14 girls. They were selected on the basis of their science projects and participation in national level science competitions.
Among them are K. Soundararajan and K. Kanagavel from the government higher secondary school in Kambiliampatti in Dindigul district. “We documented the life, culture, history and food habits of Thottia Naicker community,” Soundararajan said. “The community had migrated from Andhra Pradesh and settled in Dindigul district,” Kanagavel said.
The students presented their paper at the national level science conference held recently. Their fathers are tailors. “Some people in our village have gone abroad and they guided us on how to get a passport and exchange currency among other things,” Kanagavel said.
Poovarasan’s father Ilayaraja, a daily wage labourer from Padiyur in Tiruppur district, was beaming as he spoke about his son’s first journey abroad. “We had to move our son from matriculation school to a government school when I fell ill,” Ilayaraja said. “Fortunately, the government school had an English medium section. Now, we are very proud as he is going abroad, something which even adults in our village cannot achieve.”
Poovarasan, a Plus I student from Government Higher Secondary School in Padiyur, designed an instrument to help visually challenged persons measure distance as they walk. “The instrument will be useful to them within their house. The invention was displayed at a zonal level scientific exhibition and I was selected on the basis of my science experiment,” he said. Like most others, it is his first trip outside Tamil Nadu. But he sounded confident about going overseas. “I can speak English and I am eager to learn from this trip,” Poovarasan said. S. Gayathri, a Plus 1 student from Government Girl’s Higher Secondary School in Thirumangalam near Madurai, is one among the 14 girls on this trip.
“I was the only girl selected from my district, on the basis of my project about energy conservation. My father is a daily wage labourer,” she said. Ms M. Vijila, a science teacher who is accompanying her Class 9 student Meganathan from Salem district, said this would motivate young students to come out with innovative ideas.Her student Meganathan has designed an automatic traffic light and speed-brake controller for emergency vehicles. “We need to have smart speed brakes to enable emergency vehicles to travel faster. My project was displayed at the national level science conference in Bhopal last year,” he said.
