To make sure that language should not be a barrier for science subjects, an IAS officer of Haryana, Prabhjot Singh, has started teaching physics, chemistry and mathematics for students of classes 11 and 12 in Hindi medium through a social media platform.
A 2010 batch IAS officer, Prabhjot Singh, 35, is currently managing director, National Health Mission, Haryana. A former scientist of ISRO, Singh has also interviewed people from different walks of life on his YouTube channel, “Prabhjot Singh IAS PCM Concepts Motivational Talks”. In the past two months, he has interviewed two IAS officers, an author, journalist, doctor, ISRO scientist and sports coach to inspire the students apart from discussing concepts of science subjects.
Singh says: “I studied at a Punjabi-medium school in Ludhiana, so I wanted a platform where the students can be taught science in an easy language. That’s why I have chosen Hindi to ensure its wider reach, including the rural areas.”
“As I studied at a Punjabi-medium school, my transition from class 10 to class 11 was difficult because I had gone to English-medium school to study science. I spent four-five months in finding the meaning of new English words in the dictionary. But I was fortunate enough as there were good teachers of physics, chemistry and mathematics at Ludhiana’s SCD Government College. Still, I saw a few students who could not pick up in the science stream there. So, I always realised that language should not be a barrier in pursuing science stream,” he adds.
Singh says, “I have a special affinity for science subjects. Initially, physics and chemistry were my optional subjects for the UPSC civil services exam. With these subjects, I cleared the written exam twice and reached the interview level once. Later, I had opted for Punjabi literature in place of chemistry and cleared the UPSC exam.”
He says: “I wanted to do something like this when I was deputy commissioner (Sirsa) too. That time, I had tried a concept like Bihar’s popular Super 30 coaching programme founded by Anand Kumar, the mathematics teacher. But it could not materialise beause of technical hurdles.”
Last year, Anand Kumar was conferred the ‘Sarabhai Teacher Scientist National Honorary Award 2021’ by the National Council of Teacher Scientist (NCTS) for making mathematics easy to learn and coaching the underprivileged students to succeed in the IIT exams.
Singh says: “In Haryana too, the state government has started a similar programme of Super 100. But at a personal level too, I wanted to contribute. So, I took this initiative.”
