“Fit for Life?”: Germany and India build the scientific temper
“Fit for Life? Indo-German Youth Explore”, an initiative of the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to popularise scientific concepts in schools and universities, comes to India from 26th October 2009. Five projects chosen for presentation in India will be put up at three of Delhi’s public schools. The programme aims to enhance academic, scientific and educational exchanges between India and Germany and is implemented by the German Embassy in New Delhi.
Earlier, under the “Fit for Life?” competition as part of Germany’s ‘Science Year 2009’, German universities, colleges and universities of applied sciences were invited to develop original project ideas for popularising scientific concepts, especially among school students. Fifteen project entries were selected, which brought home the practical relevance of science in an imaginative and accessible way.
In Delhi, the five chosen German groups will exhibit and present their projects over a period of four days from 26th – 29th October. The Chargé d'Affaires of the German Embassy, Christian-Matthias Schlaga, will open the programme at Modern School, Vasant Vihar on 29th October. The others schools hosting the “Fit for Life” programme are Springdales School, Pusa Road on 26th October and Delhi Public School, R. K. Puram on 27th October. The projects will also be exhibited at the German School on 28th October and the British School on 30th October.
The programme includes interactive presentations by students and teachers from the participating schools. The students will conduct experiments under the guidance of their teachers and come to their own scientific conclusions. The results will be part of the final evaluation of the collective results of these experiments conducted in Germany earlier and in India in October 2009.
The objective of the “Fit for Life?” initiative is to encourage young people to develop a fascination for science and research. This activity is a follow-up of the Science Express, an Indo-German science exhibition on wheels that toured India for seven months in 2008, and recorded more than two million visitors, mainly young students.
As a part of Indo-German research cooperation, the project will help motivate Indian students to find solutions for present-day global issues such as climate change, energy security or overcoming diseases before their outbreak. It also provides an opportunity to reflect on the impact of science on society and how scientific discoveries, inventions and new intellectual approaches influence and change our everyday lives.
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