Now a 'Rancho' school comes up in Bihar

Begusarai (Bihar): A school for the poor in Bihar, inspired by Rancho's iconic school in Bollywood blockbuster "3 Idiots", has been opened by a scientist to teach complex science theories through games and interactive workshops.



Sudhir Kumar, a scientist working in the biotechnology laboratory of the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Pune, has set up a school in his native village of Mirzapur Chand in Bihar's Begusarai district, about 110 km from Patna.

"Besides formal education up to Class 6, explanation of complex theories of science through fun and interactive workshops conducted by a panel of scientists will be part of the school's curriculum," Sudhir Kumar, an assistant professor at IIIT-Pune, told IANS.



The school, which opened Sunday, has a staggered fee structure -- free of cost for the poor and different slabs for children with different economic backgrounds.

The governing body of the school will verify the family income of each student and will decide the fee accordingly. Richer parents will be charged more so that education of poor children can be subsidised.

"Education will be free for children belonging to families having no farm land or those of labourers, while kids of well-off parents such as landowners, businessmen, transport contractors, builders, government and private employees having regular income will be charged a monthly fee ranging from Rs. 50 to Rs. 100," said Sunil Kumar, the principal of the school.



The school will be financially supported by a panel of scientists, including Naibedya Chattopadhyay, deputy director, Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow; Manavi Chatterjee, senior research fellow, Pharmacology Division, CDRI; and Tanaya De, former research fellow, Endocrinology Division, CDRI.

Besides them, international researchers who are extending support to the effort include Shawon Lahiri, Laussane University, Switzerland; Anchal Gussain, Chicago University; Rajiv Kumar Jain, Tartu University, Estonia; Ajay Kumar Srivastava, Seoul University, South Korea; and Elo Madissoon, a research fellow in Karolinska Institute. They will also conduct regular workshops in the school.

"Lectures would be organised with the help of guest faculty who are experts in different walks of life. Students can also interact with their teachers through video-conferencing," said Kumar.

"The idea of having a school where poor children are encouraged to study science came to my mind many years back. Being a scientist, it is my responsibility to simplify the scientific theory so that they can be utilised by a layman and thus can be more useful for society," said Kumar.



Initially, the school will enrol 50-100 students in the first batch. The number will increase later as per the infrastructure and availability of teachers.

"After Class 6, our focus will be to get the students admitted to high-end schools such as Sainik School, Tilaiya, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalay and Netarhat Vidyalay and avail scholarship schemes offered by the government for high school students," he said, adding: "We are also planning to start classes up to 12th standard in this school".



The classrooms would be equipped with projector screens, computers, internet and all the modern facilities and the children will be encouraged to participate in different activities such as art, music, dance and theatre, he said.

"Before the regular session begins in January next year, classes will be conducted specially for dropouts from September so that they can be registered with open schools," said Satya Narayan Singh, one of the patrons of the school.



The school will be run by around 10 staff members, including retired teachers -- Baidyanath Choudhary and Satya Narayan Singh -- and CDRI's deputy director Naibedya Chattopadhyay as patrons. While Sunil Kumar is the principal, Priyank Kumar, Kundan Sah and Sunil Sharma are teachers. The regular teachers will be paid a consolidated salary of Rs.1,000 per month.

Begusarai is the industrial hub of Bihar. Apart from the Indian Oil Corporation's oil refinery in Barauni, it houses at least 200 small and big industries in an area of seven to eight kilometres. With the population dominated by landowners and farmers, the district also provides livelihood for businessmen, workers and transport contractors coming from other parts of the state.

Source: IANS

4,000 trees in Patna zoo face the axe for airport safety

Patna: Nature lovers are concerned over the Bihar government’s plans to cut or prune nearly 4,000 trees in the Patna zoo for airport safety, as they say it is the only green cover for the city’s two million people.

The zoo is formally known as the Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park and houses a variety of trees such as semal, bamboo, amaltas, banyan, kusum, arjun and putranjiva.

"It is madness to cut or prune trees of the zoo to make Patna Airport safer. It would be good to shift the airport outside crowded Patna and plant more trees to convert the present airport into another big green cover," said Guddu Baba, a green activist associated with campaigns to clean Ganga river.

He said the trees of the Patna zoo were the only green cover for Patna residents; so the government should do a rethink. "The government must shift the airport to Bihta near Patna to ensure green cover," Guddu Baba said.



4,000 trees in Patna zoo face the axe for airport safety



The state government Wednesday said it plans to get a part of the city zoo denotified so as to cut or prune over 3,700-odd trees in a triangular area of 17 acres. It has written to the principal secretary, environment and forests, in this regard.

"Pruning and cutting of trees are essential for safe landing of aircraft at the Patna airport. The civil aviation ministry has given the state government an ultimatum till August 31 to cut the identified trees that obstruct the approach funnel of the Patna airport," an official in the chief minister's office said Friday.

Father Robert Athickal, the man behind the Patna-based Taru-Mitra, an organisation that campaigns for trees, said he has no objection to some trees being pruned as long as they were not cut down.

"The move to prune a few trees for a safe airport, which is adjacent to the zoo, is fine," he told IANS. But he was against trees being cut, uprooted or hundreds of trees being pruned.

4,000 trees in Patna zoo face the axe for airport safety

Taru-Mitra has planned a march here Saturday to protest the move to cut trees in the zoo. "We will also submit a memorandum to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, seeking protection of the trees in the zoo," an organisation official said.

Much to the chagrin of environmentalists, the government has said it would plant rose bushes in place of the trees. It has also requested the environment and forests department to expedite the process of pruning another 249 trees inside the zoo.

"The pruning of these 249 trees in the Patna zoo has already started," a zoo official said. The government initiated moves to cut or prune trees after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation threatened to declare the airport unsuitable for big aircraft operations from Sep 1 if obstacles to the approach funnel were not cleared.

4,000 trees in Patna zoo face the axe for airport safety



A two-member Airports Authority of India (AAI) team from Delhi is in Patna and on Wednesday it demarcated the three points that will enclose the area in the zoo which has to be denotified.

Patel Chowk is the first point while the second point lies along the road adjacent to the airport. The third point is between the zoo's Gate No.2 and Raj Bhavan.

"We will complete the process of enumerating the trees in this triangular area in a day or two," said zoo director Abhay Kumar.

Arun Singh, a nature lover, said trees of the zoo should not be cut for the sake of the airport. "The airport can be shifted to Bihta, but trees cannot be planted in a year or two, they take years. Cutting trees will cause environmental problems," he said.

4,000 trees in Patna zoo face the axe for airport safety



Singh said over 2,500 trees were cut or uprooted in Patna in the name of widening of roads in the last three years. "No trees planted in place of the uprooted ones," he said.

Aneesh Ankur, a morning walker in the Patna zoo, said the move would increase pollution.

At present the zoo, spread across an area of 34 acres, is home to over 10,000 trees of nearly 180 varieties, zoo officials said.

Source: IANS