Many children find the subject of science less inspiring and relevant to their lives as they move from primary to secondary school. How do you think they can be encouraged to study science?

The need to foster scientific literacy among young children is driven by a multitude of factors ranging from the growing understanding and recognition of the power of children’s early thinking and learning to its potential to build a basis for future scientific understanding. In my opinion, advertising on the media and school programmes would be ideal in developing a keen interest for the study of science among young people. To begin with, television is an effective medium of mass communication that can be harnessed to instill a sense of interest among the young population to study science. If the television gave more importance to scientists who dedicated their lives to research and discovery of resources that improved our living standards instead of focusing on the lives of movie or sports stars, it would definitely change the direction of their attention to the mysteries of science. Similarly, schools can invest more time in conducing practical classes with experimental activities. This wold make the science courses much more appealing to all the students. Engaging in these practical sessions will not only be an outlet for relieving the stress of student life but fire their imagination improving the likelihood of further exploration and innovation on their own. To summarise, it is undoubtedly important to encourage young people to develop a curiosity about life around them from an early age. There is no more effective way to achieve this than to educate young people about the work of a scientist and how important his contributions to the world are.