Simply no takers for basic science

Updated on: Monday, June 08, 2009

After the success of ISRO’s moon mission Chandrayaan-1, India has proved its versatility in space science by launching two more satellites including one with potential military applications. Even though these inventions give a major boost to our capabilities, the sad part of the story is that new entries into the realm of basic science are rapidly declining.

According to the survey published in a science journal in December 2008, the number of students who have enrolled for the basic science courses is a meagre 20 per cent of the total number enrolling in graduation courses, as compared to 40 per cent in the period from 1995 to 2005.

The enrolment in arts and commerce from 1995 to 2000 was 50 per cent and has gone up to 65 per cent from the years 2000 to 2008. Students continue to be lured by business management, engineering and medicine.

Further, only 16 per cent students applied for the basic science courses all over the country during the academic years 2000-2008. In the same period, 54 per cent students applied for arts and commerce. The average enrolment in Biology, Chemistry and Physics came down to an overall 50 per cent.

A total of 9.80 million students applied for graduation in 2007-2008, out of which only 1.96 million opted for the basic science courses. The more interesting fact is that only 0.33 million students in science could finish their graduation in the same year, which indicates a huge dropout.

A total of 1.03 million students opted for postgraduation in different courses in 2007-2008, out of which just 0.25 million opted for basic sciences. And in this sub-group, only 0.075 million completed their courses successfully.

Bangalore, which once bore the tag of science capital, is no different. According to Srinivas Murthy, head of the chemistry department at Visvesvaraya College of Science, the college had over 1,500 students till 2000. But the number has come down to below 300 now.

Experts believe that poor infrastructure, inadequate funds, ill-trained staff and the paucity of basic facilities in the laboratories are the main reasons behind it. Fingers have also been pointed at the government for its failure to come out with a policy to rekindle the dwindling interest in pure sciences.

Another chemistry teacher says there is also a drastic decline in the number of students in applied science subjects on research basis such as biotechnology and microbiology. Most students then failed to meet industry requirements and landed up in the BPO sector, he explained.

G. Padmanaban, Professor of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, seeks policy intervention. The government should promise adequate funds and facilities so that students don’t feel insecure. “There is a dire need to expand the scope for higher science education and research in the country.”

Hindu

Simply no takers for basic science

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