Team:IISER-Bhopal-India/Human Practices
Going beyond the labwork...
We not only wish to find a sustainable solution to the problems that the world is struggling with today but also hope to seed in all individuals the drive to be responsible human beings, to equip them with the information and tools to achieve the same.
‘Gyan baatne se badhta hai', is a very famous and common saying in Hindi which literally translates to ‘spreading knowledge among people increases it’. We firmly believe in the same, hence we made significant efforts to reach out and acquaint the masses with synthetic biology, iGEM, and MethNote.
One of the main problems India now faces is that most of the educational innovations are fit only to benefit the quality of urban education and that has now become a money minting business model. While on the other hand, rural and state-funded schools remain largely neglected. With around 65% of the population residing in rural India, education there truly deserves much more attention. IISER Bhopal had aimed to reach the marginalized and state-funded schools around our institute to engage and make them aware of the environmental problems through our outreach activities. Along with it, we included other institutions as well.
Apart from reaching out and sharing knowledge, we firmly believe in the adage, ‘Actions speak louder than words'. Being under the Environmental track and doing our best to contribute to a greener tomorrow has always been one of our top priorities.
Our Outreach Program was divided into three principles: Reach, Teach and Practice!
Reach : Spreading the word
Our first part of outreach was aimed at reaching out to maximum schools and colleges around Bhopal City to spread the word about iGEM and the importance of our project.
We met and interacted with people from various walks of life regarding iGEM, and how our project is contributing to help curb methane leaks. This was a significant milestone for us to achieve, especially since we are hailing from a city that has experienced the worst faces of gas leakage - The Bhopal gas tragedy (A gas leak incident on the night of 2nd December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India).
We visited few educational institutions nearby (Sarojini Naidu Govt Girls' Post-Graduate College, Regional Institute of Education, AIl India Institute of Medical Sciences and Career College) as part of it. We shared our flyer which briefly introduced synthetic biology, our project, and what we seek to achieve. The local teachers also helped us spread our word.
The local teachers also helped us spread our word.
We hope these efforts would sow the seeds of inquisitiveness, enthusiasm to pursue similar projects and would help develop scientific aptitude among masses.
Teach : Engaging the students
It is when you have to explain it to a kid that you realize where you stand and how far you have to go. And we, the team here at IISER Bhopal, love such sessions!
Our second session of Outreach was targeted at high school students and college students in order to inspire their future endeavors in synthetic biology, to give them reasons to pursue it and give them a sneak a peek into our project and about iGEM competition. To achieve our objectives we went around Bhopal over a few days and identified various schools where we could hold interactions with the curious young minds.
We had a successful interaction with the senior secondary students and authorities of Government Subhash Higher Secondary School For Excellence, Kendriya Vidyalaya and Saifia Science College. We were able to engage them throughout and successfully explain the importance of our project. It was heartening to see numerous questions coming our way which was indicative of the interest received and the curiosity garnered. Many of them met us after our session to inquire more about our project. We were glad that we could clear most of them, if not all. We also received constructive feedback for our project which proved to be an added advantage. Along the same lines through Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan - a flagship program under Government of India to nurture a spirit of inquiry and creativity for school children, we reached out to government schools in Bakaniya and Jamoniyachhir that IISER Bhopal mentors. Here, our interactive session was focussed on global climate change, pollution and the role methane gas is playing in these. In an attempt to make a lasting impact and to ensure that this wouldn’t end up like a regular lecture, the interactive session was peppered with fun games that enabled the students to effectively grasp the concept.
Practice : For a greener tomorrow
Our institute had taken up a green initiative to sow a million trees on August 9 on the campus hill of IISER Bhopal as part of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi. The theme adopted was “Let the Pollution Quit India”. We joined our institute by duly forming a human chain and sowing a million seeds which were earlier collected for afforestation. This campus hill is spread over about 25 acres that can be developed into a dense forest and a herbarium to nurture flora and fauna, specific to the region.
This green initiative resounded well with us because its goal was in the same vein as that of ours, i.e. to tackle global warming.
All these initiatives helped us build a general interest in the fields of synthetic biology and iGEM, and to showcase to the students the need for Synthetic Biology in the future. Returning back from outreach sessions with a contented mind was all that was needed for us to get inspired and motivated from the young minds and people around us to keep moving toward our wider goal of achieving a better, greener tomorrow and to develop science to tackle the issues of the environment.