Students excelling in science exhibitions to earn NASA, ISRO visits

Pune: The Maharashtra government has launched the “Chief Minister Students’ Science Tour” initiative under the school education and sports department.

According to the government resolution (GR) issued on May 6, students excelling in science exhibitions will be given exposure visits to leading science institutions, including science centres in Maharashtra, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Bengaluru, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States.

The programme has been designed in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which emphasises experiential learning, innovation, scientific inquiry, artificial intelligence and computational thinking.

The government has announced that six students from each taluka-level science exhibition will be selected for educational visits to nearby science centres. A total of 2,148 students along with 20 science teachers and supervisors will participate in these tours.

The state government has sanctioned expenditure of up to ₹20,000 per participant for these visits through district planning and development council (DPDC) funds.

At the district level, 180 outstanding students from primary and secondary categories, including general, tribal and disabled groups, will be selected for an educational visit to ISRO, with the government approving expenditure up to ₹35,000 per participant.

Selection committees headed by chief executive officers of zilla parishads will oversee the process at the district level.

The Maharashtra government has approved ₹3.30 crore for the NASA tour, with a ceiling of ₹6 lakh per participant.

The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Pune, and the State Science Education Institute, Nagpur, will coordinate implementation of the programme.

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