Kathmandu, November 10, 2017: Southwestern State College and Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) jointly organized a program for the students of the college to mark the World Science Day. The program titled as ‘World Science Day for Peace and Development’ aimed at helping the students realize the scope of Basic Science and consider the career in it.
Students were addressed by the chairman of NASO, Mr. Suresh Bhattarai and Head of Physics Department from Tri-Chandra College, Mrs. Neelam Shrestha. Both the speakers highlighted benefits and challenges of studying Applied Science.
Mr. Bhattarai, who has been leading NASO since 2007, asked the students not to take science as a subject which confines them within engineering or medicine. According to him, science is the guardian of the innovative minds and the fields like Astronomy, Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals, etc are demanding such innovators. He also talked how NASO is working to promote applied science in Nepal and the future programs through which Nepali students pursuing core science subjects would be benefited. He promised to help the students aspiring to study astrology get international exposures as they have built up relations with different space research agencies. He said, “Money can’t buy you the assets that knowledge gives you. You realize your passion and we are here to provide you platform.”
Mrs. Neelam Shrestha, the first lady physicist from Nepal, was impressed to see a good number of students wanting to study physics in their further studies. For her, physics is a subject that can integrate the whole world. “The beauty of physics lies in its reasons and logics. You should make habit of exploring it,” said Mrs. Shrestha.
However, she feels the trend of awarding practical marks without making students learn the skills in schools. She considers practical skills as vital one for any science students. She also tried to discuss different career opportunity for students taking subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics.
Two presentations were from the students from Grade 11 and 12. The first one presented the hypothesis regarding Bermuda Triangle while the next group introduced their Robotics Team to utilize the resources available at low price and develop the robots. The promising Robotics Team is planning to execute their plan and work on the model within a year.
By: Prashant Bhandari
