One Man’s Mission to Make Science Simpler

IIT is an Indian dream and Infosys its heaven. Where IITs are breaking their backs to be the best in service sector, Premanand Sethurajan creates innovators.

Someone has rightly said, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn”. That is what exactly Sethurajan does. He trains young minds to create and innovate through application and experiments. He conducts workshops in schools in Tamil Nadu under his project “Let’s Make Engineering Simple” to teach children the application of Science in reality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlqhbN1uQiI

Operational Head of ‘Lets Make Engineering Simple’ explains ‘The Bernoulli Concept’

The project aims to explain the complex Science experiments in a lay man’s language through application. Concepts explained in their mother tongue ‘Tamil’, help students understand better. Students are also given firsthand experience in performing experiments and observing the results themselves. At present, more than 300 volunteers are associated with the project. Many schools in Tamil Nadu now invite Sethurajan to help build next generation engineers.

Besides public and private schools of Tamil Nadu, workshops are conducted in rural schools as well. “We aim to build ‘Innovation Labs’ in rural schools in next three to four years”, says Sanjay, Operational Head of the project.

The vision took birth after their successful organization of a few workshops in the schools in rural areas, where Sanjay said the excitement to learn something new is even greater among students. He called the child’s mind as an empty canvas which can absorb things better and faster.

Science is common for all and thus, should be accessible by all, he added.

Volunteers conducting experiments in schools. Source: Lets Make Engineering Simple’s Facebook Page

Quitting his job at GE Aviation, United States, Mr. Sethurajan came back to India to fill the gaps in the Indian education system. In India, where Science is taught as a theory, practical often takes a back seat. According to the Global Innovation Rate, India is only 3.4 percent innovative despite its second largest population in the world. Whereas a small country like South Korea constitutes to be 3.3 per cent innovative.

After coming up with his YouTube channel in 2014, this project was initiated in May, 2016 for making Science simpler and fun for everyone.

When asked about the market trends which largely offer service sector jobs to engineers, Mr. Sanjay asked in return, “Why not create jobs?” With an aim to create entrepreneurs, Mr. Sethurajan plans to introduce curriculum based projects in different schools all over the country.