Satna, Madhya Pradesh

The students of a government school in Satna, Madhya Pradesh, have embraced the periodic table in a novel way. Now, instead of roll numbers, each student is identified by an element. 

“Initially, my roll number was twenty four. The atomic number of chromium is twenty four, and therefore I answer to ‘chromium’ when the attendance is taken,” Divyani Soni, a class12 student explained to Gaon Connection.

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The students of the Utkrisht Madhyamik Vidhyalay, Vyankat Van, Satna, that lies about 450 kms from the state capital of Bhopal, say this has gone a long way in helping them remember the various elements, and has also made their chemistry classes fun. They hail their fellow students as Hydrogen, Oxygen, Helium and so on…

“It is so tough to remember the periodic table, the names of elements and their atomic weights when we study chemistry. But there is no getting away from it as we will need to remember them for future competitive exams too,” Mayank Pandey, another class 12 student of the school confessed to Gaon Connection.

“But our teacher has given us this great tip and now each of us is known by the name of an element and we even call each other that way,” Mayank added. 

Learning up and remembering the periodic table is the perfect way to unlock the mysteries of chemistry, pointed out the chemistry teacher of the school, Ramanuj Pathak, who hit upon the idea of giving his students names of elements from the periodic table rather than conventional roll numbers.  

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“There are a hundred and eighteen elements in the periodic table. And each one has its own atomic number and properties which are difficult to memorise,” 41-year-old Pathak told Gaon Connection. But now, they are managing to remember it all, in a fun way, he said.

“When I call my classmate by the element’s name she has been given, I find it easier to remember the properties of that particular element,” laughed class 12 student Akriti Garg. “Learning the periodic table is not so overwhelming now,” she added.

So, Ayush Pandey is now known as Calcium in his class. He was named after that element as his roll number was 20, the atomic weight of calcium. So, attendance time in class is an entertaining one, Ayush laughed.

“I am a student of chemistry too and I remember the struggle to remember the periodic table. So, when chemistry teacher Ramanuj Pathak suggested this idea of identifying each student with an element from the periodic table, I liked it,” Sushil Kumar Srivastav, principal of the school, told Gaon Connection. 

“The experiment has worked very well and we plan to adopt it in other classes as well,” Srivastav said. The novel idea is already working well in class 12 where there are 220 students, he said.  

All it takes are elements of fun for the perfect formula for learning, as the students of this government school are discovering, to their delight. 

Read the story in Hindi