Sumit Singh, a 14-year-old high school student from Lucknow, wiles away most of his free time on the roof of his house. He spends hours there, indulging in typical adolescent day dreaming, but for a rather atypical reason. The teen from Uttar Pradesh is testing a low-cost, multi-level farm, which he has built on the terrace, hoping that the methodology will help small farmers increase yield, thus offering solutions to an impending food crisis.
Singh is one of three Indian students who have been selected among the top 15 global contenders by Google for its global Science Fair ? an annual event that recognises innovators in the age bracket of 13 to 18. Two more students ? Bangalore-based Rohit Fenn and Raghavendra Ramachanderan ? will also represent the country in the 16 and 17 years’ old categories, respectively, during the finals to be held at Google?s headquarters in Mountain View, California, next month.
With the Indian education system failing to fuel such application-driven scientific minds, these brilliant students are turning to increasingly popular science fairs conducted by MNCs like Google and Intel to jump-start their careers in innovation.
Google India head for products Lalitesh Katragadda says: ?It?s amazing to see the concepts and talent displayed by these young students where they are not just trying to solve real-world problems but also producing groundbreaking science that is challenging the current conventions. It is heartening to see talent and innovation from India going global.?
For its 2012 Science Fair, Google received submissions from students across 100 countries and the topics ranged from improving recycling using LEGO robots to treating cancer with a substance created by bees, to tackling meth abuse. The winner, who will now be selected from the pool of 15, will receive prizes that include $100,000 in scholarship funds.
Last month, seven students represented India in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair held in the United States. Ramachanderan, who has been working on a project involving re-converting partially oxidised fuel into usable fuel, had won the first place in Grand Award for Chemistry. Five other students were also recognised for their work in fields like micro-biology, computer science and environmental science.
?Math and science are imperative to future global growth. The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair encourages millions of students to engage their skills for innovation to develop promising solutions for global challenges,? says Intel India president Praveen Vishakantaiah.
School curriculum, however, has had very little to do with the discoveries that these young geniuses are making. Take Fenn for instance. He spends a disproportionate amount of time on the pot. And he gets his share of flack for it. But while he was in there, he was coming up with an idea that could potentially cut water consumption by half- the application which was beyond the scope of his curriculum.
?The amount of water we waste to just flush a toilet in a country where more than half of the people don?t have water seems criminal, and it was obvious to me that something like this has to be done; which is why I gave it so much of my time. But for my teachers, playing around with a toilet for hours was definitely not laudable, even though it could lead to a solution for one of our greatest challenges. My school never really recognised that I was better equipped to apply the science that I learnt more than say a guy who scores 95%,? says the 17-year-old, claiming to be an average student.
This year?s APAC winner of the YouTube Space Labs, Bangalore-based first year engineering student Sachin Kukke, is also of the same opinion. ?My interest in outer space was sparked when I looked at Saturn through a telescope for the first time. My school had nothing to do with it and it was not really equipped to fuel my passion in something like space research,? says Kukke. Surprisingly, 40% of the total entries for the contest were from India, indicating a keen interest in space exploration among Indian teens.
The lack of such fairs by Indian organisations, say some of these students, is also testament to the dearth of importance given to innovation and application in the country. ?There are plenty of math and science Olympiads, but very few avenues to showcase inventions by Indian organisations; especially for young students,? says a participant in the Google Science Fair.
And as several generations before them have done, these brilliant minds can hardly wait to flee, with each of them looking for an opportunity to study abroad. Fenn, whose father teaches at a premier engineering institute says: ?Colleges in India are more number based, and not many are looking at how to solve real problems with science. For what I want to do, studying abroad would be a better choice.?
