SRINAGAR: On a rare and intellectually stimulating visit to Kashmir, one of India’s most revered physicists, Padma Shri awardee Professor Harish Chandra Verma, spent several days engaging with students and educators, leaving behind a trail of inspiration across multiple institutions including the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar and Islamia College of Science and Commerce.
Professor Verma, celebrated author of the Concepts of Physics series and a former professor at IIT Kanpur, did not hold back in his conversations with students and the media. While he praised the growing scientific curiosity among Kashmiri youth, he cautioned against the narrowing of their ambitions to medical entrance examinations alone.
“Every time I come to Kashmir, I ask the students—do we really need so many doctors? Is our country so sick? Is Kashmir really so sick that everyone must become a doctor?” he said in an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat. “Education is becoming merely a means to get a job, not to understand life or serve others.”
He lamented the declining interest in core sciences like physics and mathematics. “These subjects demand innovation. But because medical science offers wider job opportunities—even if it’s just working at Dr Bean’s clinic—students are opting out of engineering and physical sciences,” he remarked, with a blend of concern and irony.
At Islamia College, Professor Verma delivered a lecture titled Inspiring Curiosity: Foundations and Frontiers in Physics, where he underlined the role of curiosity, critical thinking, and exploration in scientific learning. “Science is not about knowing all the answers, but about asking the right questions,” he told a packed auditorium, drawing applause from students and faculty alike
Professor Verma’s engagement at NIT Srinagar carried the same spirit of challenge and inspiration. Urging students to move beyond rote learning and the rat race of JEE and NEET, he called for a return to curiosity-driven education. “Real science begins where textbooks end,” he told an audience of budding engineers, teachers, and researchers.
Verma also highlighted environmental sustainability as a critical frontier for science, reminding students that responsible use of resources like water must be integrated into both academic research and everyday living.
In his interactions, Verma consistently returned to the idea of meaningful education. Reflecting on the condition of government schools, he acknowledged the infrastructural disparities but remained optimistic. “If given attention, students in government schools can match their private school counterparts,” he said, advocating for holistic teacher training and contextual learning.
Drawing from his own mission, Shiksha Sopan , a social initiative he co-founded at IIT Kanpur, Professor Verma emphasised that education must remain a service, not a commodity. “We have never charged even a single rupee for education, accommodation, or books. Once you put a price on education, its purity is compromised,” he asserted.
Through Shiksha Sopan, he urges young minds to ask not only what they want to become, but why. “Do you just want a degree, or a life of dignity and purpose? That is real education,” he said.
His visit included a televised conversation on Doordarshan, reinforcing his belief that a scientific outlook should not be limited to laboratories and universities, but must become part of everyday life—from the kitchen to the classroom.
