Most students dont see research as a career

HYDERABAD: A sea of curious faces thronged the Indian Institute Institute of Chemical Technology at Tarnaka during the Open Day organised by the research institute on Wednesday.Nearly 2,200 students from 23 city schools attended the open-day, which is half of last year’s turnout. The organisers attributed the reduced numbers to frequent bandhs, which has put schools under pressure to finish the syllabus on time. Though school students posed questions and shared their enthusiasm, very few seemed to consider scientific research as a possible career.“Research requires a lot of patience and is too long. I plan to prepare for IIT-JEE after matriculation,” said Sana Sultan and her group of friends, students of Class X at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Though they found the exhibits put up by biology and toxicology divisions of IICT intriguing, none thought taking up pure sciences as a career was viable.Dr. N Lingaiah, whose project on converting plastic waste into fuel drew a large number of students, summed up the lacuna in projecting research as a viable career, “Very few youngsters think about pursuing research as a career. Due to lucrative jobs available soon after graduation, scientific research in this country is lagging. However, research attracts a large number of students from rural areas due to government fellowships. Due to the improved incentives, we hope the quality and number of students joining the field will improve.”“Apart from Engineering and Medicine, parents don’t see other options as viable. When I was a student, engineering colleges were few and studying pure science provided ample job opportunities but things have changed now,” said Meena Dixit, a teacher at NGRI High School.However, the students did enjoy going around looking at the models and exhibits at various departments. Most projects focused on treatment of wastes and conversion into useful products.