RSC London organizes Yusuf Hamied Chemistry Camp for Tehri Students at Doon Varsity
PrashantNews
For the students of the hill district of Tehri, it was an experiment with lots of learning at the Doon University on Saturday.
As many as 71 government school students of class IX successfully completed a three-day residential Yusuf Hamied Chemistry Camp organised by Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC – Cambridge, United Kingdom) at Doon University, Dehradun, with the support of Tehri MLA Kishore Upadhyay.
All the students belonging to 43 government schools from remote areas of different blocks of Tehri participated in the camp conducted by experts and academicians of international repute. Experts and students carried a series of exciting chemistry experiments through demonstrations while explaining and learning important principles of chemistry. Most of the experiments focussed on complex principles of chemistry on water, gases and other solid materials etc. Prof Uday Maitra from the prestigious Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, conducted a ‘chemistry magic’ show to the awe and excitement of students.
Doon University Vice Chancellor Prof. Surekha Dangwal stated that the Royal Society of Chemistry organized this camp at Doon University to give exposure to government school students, to provide them an opportunity to explore practical chemistry and inspire them to build their career in chemistry. “Many of our most brilliant minds have come from government schools and I am confident that at least some of these students are going to be the great scientists of the future,” she said. Thanking the RSC and Education Department of the Government of Uttarakhand, she said that chemistry camp was organised as part of the RSC Yusuf Hamied Inspirational Science Programme and that objective has been fulfilled.
Prof. Dangwal emphasised that the Royal Society of Chemistry started organizing such camps in 2014 with the support of Dr. Yusuf Hamied (Non-Executive Chairman of Cipla Limited), and the Doon University Camp is the 57th camp of the society, and the first camp in the state of Uttarakhand.
The inaugural session was addressed by Indian Institute of Petroleum Director Dr H S Bisht, who encouraged the students to be curious about learning science and introduced them to the basics of the wonderful world of chemistry. Prof. Durgesh Pant (Director General, Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology) was the Chief Guest for the valedictory session and invited all the students to UCOST in future from time to time. He said that UCOST is committed to popularise science among people and students in the far flung areas of Uttarakhand. Prof. Pant said that all the students are very happy, confident, enthusiastic and excited after attending the camp. He said that for the students belonging to difficult terrain of Himalayas, this camp provided them a unique exposure.
Upon completion of camp, students from far off villages of Chamba, Naicholi, Moldhar, and Nagni of Tehri Garwal district expressed their deep sense of satisfaction and desire to attend more camps in future.
Royal Society of Chemistry is the world’s leading chemistry community. It works for the advancement of excellence in the chemical sciences. This society has nearly 50,000 members in the world. It was established in the United Kingdom around 175 years ago. Main focus of this society is to work towards shaping the future of the chemical sciences for the benefit of science and humanity.
Dr. Arun Kumar, Dr. Charu Dwivedi and Dr. Shivani Verma are the coordinators of this camp. They said that the students performed many interesting and fun experiments in the chemistry laboratories.