Indian school proj to compete in CASTIC, China

Thane, July 24: A Science project prepared by the students of Sau A K Joshi English Medium School in Thane has been chosen for an international competition to be held in China.

This competition called China Adolescent Science and Technology Innovation Contest (CASTIC) is being organised by the China Association of Science and Technology (CAST) from July 30 to August 5, 2007 at Kunming, Yunnan Province in China, school authorities said.

CAST has been organising such contests for the last more than two decades. The forthcoming competition is the 22nd in the series. In the initial period the competition was limited to Chinese students only.

Later, they started encouraging international participation in the competition. Now CASTIC has become an international event. The main purpose of the competition is to give an opportunity to school going children to display their innovative ideas.

A few members of CAST had visited Indian last year. While in Mumbai they made it a point to spend time in Sau A K Joshi English Medium School of the Vidya Prasarak Mandal (VPM) Thane.

They were impressed by the science models prepared by the students of the schools and showed willingness to include some of them in Science and Technology exhibition held in China. When such an opportunity arose they made it a point to send a formal invitation for participation. Moreover they showed willingness to bear the cost for residence, food and local transport for all the participants.

Teachers and students of Sau A K Joshi have been participating in the science exhibitions organized in India. One of their projects on Hydroponics was selected at the State-level and was included in the National Children's Congress held at Bhubaneswar in 2005.

It has been decided to present the same project for the competition in China. The project is based on new techniques of hydroponics which involves growing the plants using water and salt.

This technique has tremendous potential for the future as we are facing the shortage of food to meet the need of the growing population. Using this technique one can grow vegetables and fruit without the help of a soil.

An eight-member team is going to China on Saturday, July 28, to participate in the competition. The team includes four students: Ms Nikita Shah, Ms Niharika Mungale, Ms Amala Bhagwat and Mr Sahil Kanekar for Sau A K Joshi School Thane.

They will be accompanied by two teachers: Mrs Apanra Bhole and Mrs Purnima Sathe from the same school. The team will be led by Dr Vijay Bedekar, Chairman, Vidya Prasarak Mandal, Thane. On the special invitation of the China Association of Science and technology, Prof Sudhakar Agarkar of the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education is also accompanying the team, school authorities added.

UNI