Bridging the Gap: Rethinking Communication to Popularise STEM Education in India

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now
is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”

― Marie Curie

In a country like India, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) as a disciplinary engagement primarily in schools begins with a culture based on a high sense of family aspiration and ends in a fear of anxiety. The case is very similar to mine, too. I still remember the phobia I faced with a mathematics paper, now I call it a “Mathophobia”. Every time a maths teacher walked into the classroom, I had a tight knot in my stomach. The blackboard was filled with numbers and symbols, and I felt this as an enigmatic code that I was never meant to understand. Like millions of other Indian students, I didn’t struggle with mathematics but feared it. The trauma was not only related to my failure in comprehending those numbers but also to pedagogy that lacks empathy and communication.

Today, as a professor of communication, I strongly vouch for rethinking the role of communication in bridging the gap to popularise STEM education, not as an aspirational entity but towards curiosity-driven engagement. India is on the threshold of becoming a global superpower, which also features a knowledge economy, a significant challenge in terms of creating a balance between STEM education and disciplines about language, culture, and communication.

Symbiosis is integral in achieving the holistic development of society, which is parallel with technological advancement. In 2020, through the National Educational Policy (NEP) framework, the government took significant steps in edging the STEM education ecosystem in India. Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI), launched in 2022, attempts to transform schools into “model schools”, equipping them with bright classrooms and AI learning features that offer students an immersive learning experience. 

AIM (Atal Innovation Mission) is another flagship initiative that fosters a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. However, this initiative remains fractured as long as STEM education is limited to the binary of textbook-based theories and principles. However, on the ground, the reality is still fragmented, and the mode of pedagogic intervention is limited to textbook theory. The student’s association with reality in understanding a phenomenon or an instrument is confined to the illustrations.

Science education is frequently compartmentalised into a very exam-centric delivery where a single binary will legitimise their worth in the entrance test rather than the real-world experiences and anecdotes. One significant hurdles in science-based education's growth trajectory is the lack of contextualisation with real-world scenarios. Still, I remember the myopic intervention towards the principles and theorems of physics and chemistry, which was limited within the confines of the classroom, and then to the answer scripts. It’s a perceived reality as long as you keep STEM education secluded from lived experiences, it remains a foreign entity.

To bring possibilities into the advancement of STEM education, it’s crucial to speak science in the people’s voice. The approach helps understand it, and once the commoner comprehends the developments, they take pride in associating with it. One of the best reference points is the ISRO Chandrayaan-3 mission in 2023. It was not just a scientific accomplishment; it also exemplifies commoners' association to take pride in their achievements. The credit goes to the regional language YouTube commentaries, reeling, mojoing and social media posts.

A marvellous accomplishment of astrophysics marked its presence in national pride. To propel the discourses associated with the popularity of STEM-based education in India, it’s vital to engineer the narrativity, emotional association, and relevance of this education in the grassroots. Emphasis needs to be placed on the storytelling process by regional media, involving community radio, and active association of content creators. One of the major way to humanise is to bring complex topics from quantum computing to climate change into short and engaging videos and make it available in regional languages. To commence a journey that involves narrating STEM education in grassroots it’s essential to train educators and journalists who have significant stake in germinating the embryo. Storytelling conepts involving visuals and immersive technologies like AR and VR enables in scaffolding the path towards scientific temperament and belief system. These technologies allows a very inclusive experience and promotes long-term learning memory.

As an individual who once feared mathematics, I now contemplate it’s was not the subject I feared- it was the way it got introduced to me. The shame of failure, peer pressure, has often surpassed my eagerness to know the discipline and took me towards the silence of confusion.

Currently, as a faculty it’s my duty to reflect and re-read the challenges I encountered that empowers me to accept the failure and encourage to convey a message that science as a discipline is not an elite entity rather it’s a symbol of shared narrative for achieving societal welfare.