National Science Day: ZP school in Solapur installs Prithvi missile replica

PUNE: A Zilla Parishad school in the Solapur district of Maharashtra has set up a 15-feet high replica of the Prithvi missile, India's first indigenous ballistic missile, on the campus to inculcate scientific temperament among the students and expose them to the country's renowned missile programme.

The replica was inaugurated on Monday on the occasion of National Science Day in the school premises located in Kondhar Chincholi village in Karmala tehsil of Solapur, some 255 kilometres from here, an official said.

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"Under the Solapur Zilla Parishad's initiative of Clean School, Beautiful School, we have already implemented a 'science wall' project in over 200 ZP schools in the tehsil. As a part of the same project, the ZP school in Kondhar Chincholi decided to create a prototype of the Prithvi missile," said Manoj Raut, Block Development Officer (BDO), Karmala tehsil.

As a part of the 'science wall' project, photographs of famous scientists and inventors have been hung and their birth anniversaries are being celebrated, he said.

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Vitthal Iware, a science teacher from the school, said the objective of creating a replica or prototype was to inculcate a scientific temper and expose students to India's missile programme and technology. Headmaster Hirankant Shinde said the height of the prototype, made of steel, was 15 feet and it was erected through crowdfunding from the residents of the village.