National
Children's Science Congress (NCSC) is a nationwide Science Communication
programme which began in the year 1993. It is a forum for children of the
age-group of 10-17 years, both from formal school system as well as from out of
school, to exhibit their creativity and innovativeness, particularly their ability to solve a
societal problem experienced locally using the method of science. When I was a
student of class 8(2008) I had an opportunity of taking part in the NCSC and
thus began a memory that would last a lifetime.
With
lots of new hope, positive energy I started my first ever train journey with
the Nalberian brigade for the State Level National Children Science Congress which
was supposed to be held in Jorhat. I used to always suffer from motion sickness
so I was pretty nervous to embark on a
long train journey.
We
were travelling in the Morioni Express. Our co-ordinator knew about my situation so
gave me extra care . soon some members began singing songs and some started
dancing too and soon I got rid of uneasiness and felt better.
We
finally reached our destination and the most interesting part was that the
management team had arranged for staying at Normal School for Nalberian team
which produced some legendry Assamese personality like Syed Abdul malik,
Nalinibala Devi, The magician of Dhol Moghai Ojha etc.
The 4 days schedule of the National Science
Congress began with flag hosting and march past of child scientist who came from
difference places of Assam. The moto of the N.C.S.C. 2008 was ‘Planet Earth is
Our Home: Explore,Care & Share’.
The
entire schedule was packed with project presentation part , different kinds of
scientific competition, scientific model competition, question-answer session
with eminent scientist to cultural night. It was one of the most thrilling
experiences of my life. I became friends with lots of child scientist from
difference places of Assam, shared about our projects and also about our own district,
culture ,tradition among others.
We
visited some historical places of Jorhat, especially the Tocklai Tea Research
Center(Asia’s first tea research centre), Cinnamora Tea Estate, which is
Assam’s first tea estate, Thengal Bhavan from where the first daily newspaper
in India was published, North East Institute of Science and Technology and Jorhat
Gymkhana Club, which ranks amongst the oldest clubs in India having served a
venue for conducting horse races. Though time couldn’t permit us to visit Gibbon
Wildlife Sanctuary and Majuli(World’s largest river island).
The
sessions were most interesting and the best part of the event was the question
and answer session with the eminent scientist Dr. Jitendra Nath Goswami, the
Principal Scientist of Chandrayaan-1 .
In
the final night we performed cultural activities and were appreciated by all.
From there we returned home with our hearts filled with memories to last a
lifetime.
For me National Children Science Congress is a
platform which created a scientific temperament among children and prompts
children to think over societal problems, ponder over its causes and
subsequently try and solve the same.
This
involves close and keen observation, raising pertinent questions, formulating a
hypothesis, building models/road maps, predicting solutions on the basis of a
model, trying out various possible options and arriving at an optimum solution
using experimentation and testing, field work, research and innovative ideas.
It also encourages a sense of discovery among children. It emboldens the
participants to question many aspects of our progress and development and
express their findings in their vernacular language.
Derajuddin
Ahmed
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