Monsanto and UWM join hands to set up 20 “Mini Science Centres” in Maharashtra’s Marathwada region

Mumbai: Monsanto India Limited (MIL) in partnership with United Way of Mumbai (UWM) will establish 20 “Mini Science Centres” (MSC) in government schools across Maharashtra’s Marathwada region.

The project is planned to be executed over a period of two years between 2017 – 2019 and will benefit over 10,000 school children. This year, 11 MSCs have already been established and the remaining 9 will be inaugurated in the coming year.

Dhanalakshmi Ramachandra, CSR & Sustainability Lead, Monsanto India said, “Science is a fascinating subject. The concepts taught using text books often limit students’ understanding and consequently reduce their interest to learn more. Setting up of MSCs will enable children explore concepts and also provide a better understanding of Science and Mathematics.”

The Mini Science Centres consist of a range of 60 table top models with back-drops and manuals in local languages providing practical experiences to the students between Class V and X. The models are approved by MSERT and NSERT in alignment with their curriculum.

Student engagements involve exposure visits, quiz and model making competitions which will open their world to the applicative aspects of science. Concepts like Properties of light, Newton’s laws, Inertia, Resonance, Magnetism, DNA Structure, Gravitational forces, Pythagoras theorem, Properties of waves, Nuclear fission and fusion, Principles of motion are being taught through this. In addition, teachers will be trained to explain the concepts using these models.