Patna: Research is no longer just for postgraduate scholars. Three undergraduate students of Central University of South Bihar (CUSB) have secured a Rs 3 lakh research grant from the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR)—a significant opportunity for students under the four-year undergraduate programme introduced by NEP 2020.BA-B Ed seventh-semester students Sania Ansari, Shubhangi Singh and Binita Singh have won the grant under ICSSR’s Young Research Talent Scheme. They will study “Decolonised cognition among pre-service teachers: Relationship with cultural identity and collective self-esteem.”The project will explore how young teachers can move beyond colonial patterns of thinking and how such “decolonised cognition” is connected with cultural identity and collective self-esteem.The initiative is particularly significant for undergraduate education, where research opportunities have traditionally been limited. CUSB’s vice-chancellor Kameshwar Nath Singh said such projects would help students move beyond textbook-based learning towards curiosity, critical thinking, inquiry and knowledge creation.Project director Ravi Kant said the study would bring the emerging debate on decolonisation into teacher education and could encourage more UG students to pursue research on socially relevant themes. The grant, he said, sends a wider message: Undergraduate students can be researchers too.
