Rules bar govt school students from visiting 'Pride of India' expo

DDPI says some teachers taking students to exhibition at their own risk

While the students of private educational institutions are visiting the ‘Pride of India’, an exhibition organised as a part of the ongoing 103rd Indian Science Congress at Manasagangotri, University of Mysore, in hordes here, the students of government schools are not so lucky.

Deputy Director of the Public Instruction Department H R Basappa said, “As per the norms, (the government) schools cannot be closed during working days and thus, the department has asked the government school teachers to take at least two students from each school (to the exhibition). The higher authorities have neither directed (us in this regard) nor provided any facility to take the students to the exhibition. But a few teachers are taking some students to the exhibition at their own risk.”

More and more students and people are visiting the exhibition in large numbers everyday. So far, an estimated 50,000 visitors, mainly students from various educational institutions, have visited the exhibition.

A volunteer said crowd management has become a difficult task. “We have to explain each and every project to the visitors. The students are very keen on knowing more about the latest innovations, technologies and raise interesting questions. But time constraint and the ever increasing number of visitors are not allowing us to satiate their thirst for knowledge.”

A police constable on duty said hundreds of students visited the exhibition before 12 noon on Wednesday. On an average 12,000 to 15,000 visitors are recorded per day, he added.

Gurubhakthaiah, a teacher at Hardwicke High School, said a rarely organised exhibition, like this one, is a boon for students.

“The students are really lucky to visit the exhibition. The exhibits displayed here are beyond students’ imagination and it impossible to recreate such models. We teach students only with study materials, but these models make students more curious and kindles interest in science among them,” he said.

Students excited
The students are excited to get hands on information about satellites, defence vehicles and other technologies.

 “I had learnt about satellites. But I was not much clear about its uses and process of functioning. Now, I am very much clear on satellites and science,” Praveen, a Class 10 student, said.

Ravikiran, another student, said, “We are lucky to visit such a wonderful exhibition in our own city.”