Gujarat will host the National Children Science(NCSC) Congress for the first time this year during 27th to 31st December 2009 in Ahmedabad at Gujarat Science City, working under the aegis of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of Gujarat. The 17th NCSC will be organized on the focal theme ‘Planet Earth – our home: Explore, Share and Care.’ The programme will be held at Gujarat Science City and SGVP International School, Ahmedabad with GSC as main host and SGVP as co-host.

Apart from the 700 selected child scientists from India, the local schools of Gujarat will also be involved through different scientific activities and interactive programmes. It is expected to involve about 5000 local students through different programmes everyday. More over, different scientific institution from within and outside Gujarat will be invited to participate in scientific exhibition to be organized along with other activities. It would be also another feature that about 100 child scientists and escort teachers from SAARC countries are participating in the 17th NCSC this year.

Nation’s leading scientists to participate

One of the most interesting activities of the NCSC is interaction of Eminent Scientists of the, country with the child scientists. They ask interesting questions, expressed their doubts to the scientists and the scientists try to answer their question with much pleasure. Over the years eminent scientists like Dr. APJ. Abdul Kalam, Former President of India, Prof Yashpal, Chancellor of JNU, Prof M.S. Swaminathan, Chairman of MSSRF, Dr. Madhab Gadgil, Prof Jayant V. Narliker, Dr. Madhavan Nair, Dr. D. Balasubramanian, Dr. N. K. Sehgal and many other prominent scientists interacted with the child scientists of NCSC.

Organizing structure formed

In order to organize this prestigious scientific programme effectively with meaningful objectives, the Government of Gujarat has constituted the organizing, advisory and steering committee for the 17th NCSC with Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Gujarat as the Patron. The committees have all the government department, eminent scientists and academicians

Shri D. Rajgopalan, Chief Secretary, Government of Gujarat is the Chairman of the Organizing Committee.

Shri Raj Kumar, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology and Shri Hasmukh Adhia, Principal Secretary, Department of Education, Govt of Gujarat are the Conveners of the 17th NCSC. Prof. Yash Pal, President of the NCSTC-Network is the Chairman of the advisory committee. Shri Hasmukh Adhia is also the chairman of steering committee.

The steering committee also formed several working sub-committees to look after and coordinate individual programmes and activities. The Steering Committee has already convening meetings and reviews with working committees and monitoring the updates and developments.

Activities

The programmes and activities for the 17th NCSC will be held both at Science City and the SGVP International School campus. The major work component of the NCSC- 2009 are (i) technical session for Child Scientists, (ii) scientific exhibition by premier scientific institutions and themes, (iii) activity corners, (iv) interaction of eminent scientist of the country, (v) poster presentation, (vi) cultural programme by the Child Scientists, (vii) teacher orientation programmes, (viii) face to face and videoconferencing sessions with topmost scientists along with grand inaugural and valedictory programme.

About NCSC

NCSC is a prestigious national academic event for the meritorious children of the age group of 10 to 17 years named as child scientists, both from formal and informal, along with eminent scientists and faculties of the country. The programme has been proved and provides a real platform for the budding scientists to make their career and profession in science. It is matter of great pride that such a national academic programme is going to be held in Ahmedabad for the first time since its inception in 1993. Gujarat Science City has taken the lead to organize the programme for the benefit of the budding scientists of the state and the country. The programme conceptualized by the National Council for Science & Technology Communication (NCSTC), of Department of Science & Technology, Government of India and being executed by the NCSTC Network in each state and UT.

The NCSC allows children to think of some significant societal problem, ponder over its cause and subsequently try to solve the same using the scientific process. The programme encourages a sense of discovery by involving close and keen observation, raising pertinent questions, building models, predicting solutions on the basis of a model, trying out various possible alternatives and arriving at an optimum solution using experimentation, field work, research and innovative ideas. It emboldens the participants to question many aspects of our progress and development and express their findings in vernacular languages.