Our ancestors used to look up at the sky, observe, and note down their findings. Using constellations, human civilization learnt to navigate. Using the changing position of stars and the corresponding rise and fall of temperatures, they learnt about seasons. With the knowledge of seasons, it became easier to predict rainfall patterns which led to civilizations centred around agriculture, resulting in improved food security, making civilizations larger than was previously possible. Studying about space and astronomy was hence instrumental in the formation of large human societies itself. The seasons were also directly linked with the availability of water, making humans learn to store water during the rainy season for use during the dry seasons hence reducing nomadic behaviour, leading to the formation of cities and towns. While this was all in the past, astronomy continues to remain highly relevant in today’s world. The GPS which exists in every smartphone in the world runs using signals from multiple satellites. These systems are so sensitive that in designing them, we need to account for the difference in the gravitational pull of the Earth on its surface, and in the orbit of the satellites. Despite astronomy being integral to the beginning and continual functioning of human civilization itself, it is a topic ignored in most schools. Nypunya School of Excellence, being the only school in Mysuru with a Space Lab and a comprehensive structured syllabus, is a pioneer of space education for school students in Royal City.

From a scientific publication in the Physics Education journal on the long-term impact of modern physics education on primary school students, we see that “there is a statistically significant improvement in student’s conceptual understanding of Einsteinian physics”. One of the authors of this paper, Mr. Roshan Dattatri used to conduct modern physics workshops for primary school and middle school students in a lab in Perth, Western Australia. A published astrophysicist and science educator, Roshan is the instructor in charge of the Space Lab at Nypunya School of Excellence. He is very optimistic and passionate about the pioneering efforts taken by Nypunya School of Excellence in the field of astronomy education and shares the management’s belief that this is the way to spark the students’ curiosity and build in them the scientific temperament, and produce alumni that will go on to become world renowned scientists that will bring immense pride to our country.