A one-day workshop under the NCSTC-sponsored project entitled “STEM awareness programmes and their impact on the scientific temperament of rural school students in the state of Punjab” was organised on 5 December 2025 at Teachers Home, Bathinda, Punjab, by CSIR-NIScPR. The objective of this initiative was to foster curiosity, innovation, and scientific thinking among students by providing them with exposure to scientific concepts, experiments, and interactions with STEM experts. 

Around 280 students of Class IX-XII from different Government schools participated in the workshop, accompanied by their science teachers. District Education Officer, Mrs Mamta Sethy; District Science Supervisor, Dr Sanjeev Nagpal; Science Teacher, Mr Jitender Kumar; Mr Foran Singh, Retired Science teacher; and Dr Jitentra Kumar Pattanaik, along with the Project coordinator Dr Puspanjali Tripathy, were present in the Inaugural session. 

Dr Jitendra Kumar Pattanaik, Associate Professor, Department of Geology, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, delivered a STEM awareness lecture to motivate the students to study science. Participants also performed hands-on science experiments under the guidance of Mr Foran Singh and Project Associate Mr Ajay Sharma. Besides, students also performed hands-on experiments on Newton’s Laws of Motion and electricity. 

A career guidance lecture was given by Dr Krishna Gopal, Lecture, DIET, Bathinda, for the students regarding different career options in science. Information on fellowships and schemes of the Department of Science & Technology (DST) for school and college students was also shared by Dr Puspanjali Tripathy. The workshop was concluded with feedback from the participants.