| Name: Niruj Mohan Ramanujam |
| Affiliation: Indian Institute of Astrophysics |
| Conference ID: ASI2026_1037 |
| Title: Rural Karnataka looks to the stars: Large scale collaborative frameworks for astronomy education |
| Abstract Type: Invited |
| Abstract Category: Education, Outreach and Heritage |
| Author(s) and Co-Author(s) with Affiliation: Niruj Mohan Ramanujam(Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru - 560034, India), Vikranth Pulamathi(Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru - 560034, India), Amoghavarsha N.(Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru - 560034, India), Yashaswini KS(Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru - 560034, India), Pavan Gramapurohit(Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru - 560034, India), BS Shylaja(Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium), Sanjana Anand(Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum, Bengaluru - 560005, India), S. Seetha(Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru - 560080, India) |
| Abstract: Through 6000 libraries and 835 schools, the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) has been running two large scale programs in collaboration with the Government of Karnataka to promote astronomy education and awareness in rural Karnataka, solely in the Kannada language. Though STEM education, and hence opportunities in STEM careers, is known to be deficient in rural areas, they also enjoy access to darker skies, and have substantial untapped potential. IIA has been working with around 6000 Rural Libraries (Arivu Kendras) through the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Commission. It has been conducting a number of training workshops and online talks for the Rural Librarians, as well as disseminating activity sheets, multimedia messages on naked eye events, and a few in-person events. We will describe these activities and highlight the noticeable impact that special campaigns like Zero Shadow Day and the 7 Sept Total Lunar Eclipse have had in the rural communities served by these libraries.
IIA has been engaging with all 835 Residential Schools run by the Social Welfare Dept, for whom the Karnataka DST has recently purchased a telescope each. We have trained teachers from all these schools in using their telescopes, as well as setting up a framework for continued mentoring of these teachers, and the formation of astronomy clubs, with monthly activities. We will describe our current efforts and future plans in this collaborative project.
In summary, we will present the challenges as well as strengths involved in these large scale collaborative governmental projects, and the impact it has on promoting scientific temper and science literacy in rural Karnataka over the coming years. |
