Quoting well-known physicist Albert Einstein, Bengaluru-based Dr H S Nagaraja, 82, a robust advocate of experiential studying, stated, “Something aside from your expertise is not any information, it’s solely data.”
A physicist, instructor, and social entrepreneur, Nagaraja has spent over 5 many years redefining science schooling, empowering deprived college students, and nurturing the subsequent technology of thought leaders.
His journey, from a university lecturer to the founding father of transformative establishments like BASE and Prayoga, is dotted with navigating and coping with the altering instructional panorama.
Reflecting on his journey, Nagaraja stated, “It’s much less about me and extra concerning the street map for society.”
Nagaraja’s love affair with schooling started in 1964, when he graduated with a BSc from Nationwide School, Basavanagudi, adopted by an MSc in Physics from Bangalore College in 1966. By 1967, he was a lecturer at Vijaya School, the place his ardour for physics and educating flourished. Over 25 years, he developed electronics as a topic, crafting curricula and labs for Karnataka’s pre-university and diploma applications.
In 1991, Nagaraja took a daring leap, retiring voluntarily to deal with a urgent want: Karnataka despatched barely two or three college students to IITs yearly. From his Bull Temple residence, he based BASE Academic Companies Pvt Ltd, not as a industrial enterprise however owing to a “social want”. Beginning with three college students and 6 academics, BASE grew right into a 400-member organisation, coaching 50,000 college students to compete for India’s prime establishments, notably in pure sciences. “Passing exams is a by-product. Strengthening studying is the aim,” Nagaraja emphasised.
“Via TAPAS, we offer free IIT-JEE coaching to vivid college students from marginalised backgrounds – youngsters of housemaids and every day wage employees. One other program, SADHANA, empowers ladies from comparable backgrounds for medical and science careers,” he stated.
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A poignant reminiscence for Nagaraja is a 15-year-old woman needing a pacemaker. When her mom feared she would drop out, he rallied funds, secured surgical procedure at half value, and supported her to attain 98 per cent in PUC. “In the present day, she’s an engineer, married, and thriving – a contributor to social development. What could be happier?” Nagaraja stated.
In 2015, Nagaraja based Prayoga, a not-for-profit devoted to experiential science schooling, predating the Nationwide Training Coverage (NEP) 2020.
Prayoga Campus. (Specific Picture)
“Info is now not information. School rooms as transaction centres for data have turn into completely irrelevant. Youngsters have entry, mother and father have entry, and the general public has entry to data. Processing data, changing that into information functions, and in the end buying expertise to unravel real-life issues in society is what schooling ought to give,” he stated.
Prayoga’s Kriya program delivers hands-on studying to 7,000 college students throughout 66 Karnataka colleges, with plans to achieve 12,000 colleges quickly. Its Anveshana program can be transformative: 50 college students from eight states, many from rural and tribal areas, work with PhD researchers for months, publishing in peer-reviewed journals, together with Harvard. “Think about a village little one in ninth grade publishing at Harvard. It builds self-confidence,” he stated.
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The scholars performing experiements as part of Prayoga’s Anveshana. (Specific Picture)
Speaking about India’s low allotment for R&D (analysis and growth), he stated, “We will’t change the atmosphere in a single day, however personal initiatives like Prayoga are important… applications like Anveshana nurture thought leaders who ask questions… by fostering curiosity stifled by rote studying.”
“Many scientists are speaking about it within the nation and evaluating with different nations how a lot they spend and all that. However the entire downside is you retain issues that aren’t, you turn into adverse, and also you begin criticising. The society has at all times advanced with a whole lot of personal initiatives,” he added.
As an writer of over 30 physics and electronics books and a former syllabus committee member, Nagaraja advocated for curricula that prioritise remark, inquiry, and real-life initiatives. He recalled the story of a Tamil Nadu woman who, moved by a roadside ironer’s plight, designed a solar-powered iron. “Marks in physics don’t matter. Altering society does,” he remarked.
Prayoga’s Kriya program delivers hands-on studying to 7,000 college students throughout 66 Karnataka colleges, with plans to achieve 12,000 colleges quickly. (Specific Picture)
He urged academics to see college students with “nice positivity,” permitting them to evolve naturally.
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Nagaraja shared his dream is to see Prayoga as an institute of nationwide significance, driving a reimagined schooling system the place college students remedy real-world issues – maybe residing in ocean habitats or area settlements. “With AI, robotics, and machine studying, most jobs shall be changed. We should equip folks to rule how society strikes ahead, preserving humanity intact. Training is the one strategy to know what to make use of, what to not use, in a linked world,” he stated.