COIMBATORE: Space education remains a distant dream for many govt school students, but Tirupur-based S Saravanakumar is actively bridging the divide. As an official Isro-registered space tutor, he conducts free workshops, guest lectures and training sessions in public and aided schools. To expand his reach, Saravanakumar launched a dedicated website offering structured courses from Levels 1 to 5 that introduce space science for children starting from the age of 10.The course is aligned with school standards, covering topics from telescopes and the solar system to space missions, constellations and astrophysics — making astronomy a part of every student’s learning journey.Moving beyond textbook theory, Saravanakumar provides practical and experiential learning. Students build functional telescopes, craft DIY model rockets and conduct engaging science experiments, transforming complex astronomical concepts into tangible, inspiring realities for young, curious minds across the region.Saravanakumar is an India ambassador for the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Competition (IAAC), a global contest that encourages young minds to solve space science challenges.Being an MBA graduate, his interest in space science is purely a passion. Talking to TOI, Saravanakumar said, “Being a govt school student myself, I had no opportunity to get to know about space at school due to a lack of resources. For almost 50 years now, despite achieving milestones in space research, we are talking about hardly four or five prominent scientists of Tamil Nadu who were educated in govt schools. The ratio of govt school students entering or pursuing space science is just one in 1,000 or a lakh. Space and astronomy are still a stigma. They do know what space is. But it is a void beyond their textbooks. One of our initiatives is the mobile planetariums where students can experience space at their place and not have to travel to cities like Chennai, Trichy and Coimbatore.”He has trained in 300 schools in Tamil Nadu, including private schools. He has been providing free training to govt schools students in the last two years.Saravanakumar said, “Private schools offer frequent interaction of students with scientists, which is absent in govt schools, leaving them with no opportunity to clarify their curiosity. To bridge this gap, I’ve been preparing a proposal to the state’s school education department to introduce a year-long space science training with at least two sessions a month for classes 6-12. With a one-day training session, the outcome is ineffective. If it is introduced as a syllabus, then we can introduce these students to simple rockets like water rockets and then motivate them to build their own models and gradually prepare them for advanced levels. Later, they can also attempt to appear for the ISRO examination and other space examinations.”
