A modern science centre aimed at promoting experiential learning among school students has been established in Madurai by Ankuran Foundation in collaboration with the Madurai Corporation.

Situated in Karimedu, the facility has been developed on a spacious area with state-of-the-art gadgets. This would be on a par with any premier private educational institution and the benefit would primarily go to the Corporation and Government school students, the faculty members said.

Education Department officials in Madurai Corporation said on Monday that the facility has advanced laboratories for Physics, Chemistry and Biology, along with dedicated facilities for Artificial Intelligence and simulation, robotics and tinkering, and a dark room for optics experiments.

The infrastructure has been designed to enable students to engage in hands-on learning through experiments and demonstrations, moving beyond conventional classroom-based teaching, they said and added that a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Corporation and the Ankuran Foundation in December 2024.

An official from the Ankuran Foundation said that, a not-for-profit organisation, they focused on providing experiential science education to students from Classes VI to XII. The initiative aims to foster scientific temper, critical thinking, innovation and problem-solving skills among students.

Under the initiative, students from Government and Corporation schools will be provided access to the facility free of cost, while a nominal fee would be collected from students from private schools.

Academics said that the centre was expected to benefit thousands of students from several schools across the city, particularly those who lacked access to well-equipped laboratory facilities. The initiative was also expected to support teachers by complementing classroom teaching with practical exposure.

A science faculty from the Madurai Kamaraj University said that such a modern centre would be a significant step forward as it would facilitate in strengthening science education in the region and promote interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines among students, he added.