Home Science – Goes Way Beyond the Four Walls of Home

What's in a name? A rose is a rose is a rose… thus spake William Shakespeare. The same is not true for a discipline like Home Science, which is constantly improvising as it expands beyond the confines of a home, to ensure that it remains a relevant modern day careers.

Then and Now
When Home Science was first introduced in the princely state of Baroda in 1913, it attracted a lot of elite women, by promising to fine tune a woman's ability to deal with her home, family and the community, in the wake of Industrial Revolution. However, with the growth of women's empowerment post independence, it was sniggered at for being a subject that only dealt with domestic chores. Given that the course content revolved around housekeeping, home decoration, cookery, child rearing, stitching, who could be blamed?

As more women became career-oriented, experts revamped the program to reflect the changing times. "Earlier, a student was taught subjects like cooking and child care to help her integrate the family and community. Today the syllabus includes government schemes to aid her role in national development. No other discipline has reinvented itself as much as Home Science. My visits to universities and colleges across the country reveal that students today are interested in Food Technology, Fashion Technology, Interior Designing and Early Childhood Care and Development," says Prof Uma Joshi, President of the Home Science Association of India (HSAI).

Expansive Scope
From a secondary school subject to a college/university subject to a full-fledged Faculty, Home Science gained a lot of ground. Between the 50s and 70s, the departments were–Foods and Nutrition, Child Development, Home Management, Textiles and Clothing, and Extension Education. Over the years, some departments were renamed; for instance, Child Development became Human Development in SNDT Women's University (SNDTWU). Similarly Foods and Nutrition became Food Science and Nutrition. A post 80s make-over witnessed the addition of even more layers. Nutrition, foe instance became multi-faceted to include nutrition in critical care, maternal and child nutrition, geriatric nutrition, sports nutrition, clinical nutrition and public health nutrition. Dietetics and Food Processing, which were once single papers or subjects became specialized degree programmes with between 20-24 subjects. Prof Shobha A Udipi, HoD, Department of Food Science and Nutrition, SNDTWU hopes to introduce Nutrigenomics (interaction between nutrition and genes) into the curriculum soon.

The career options from teaching to working in research institutions are well known. But there are other areas you can work in too; such as laboratories that ensure food safety and quality; companies that conduct research on new food products or enhance existing products; food auditing, food/nutrition consultants in hospitals, hotels, wellness centres, corporates as well as aid agencies. "Working as a food/nutrition writer or entrepreneur are other options. There are several successful entrepreneurs working from home," says Prof Shobha A Udipi, HoD, Food Science and Nutrition, SNDT Women's University (SNDTWU)

Lets take another specialization–Ergonomics. Going by its dictionary meaning, it is an applied science concerned with designing and arranging things people use so that the people and things interact most efficiently and safely. It involves deciding several things; right from what angle the chair should lean to comfort your back and what should be the ideal weight of a satchel that a school student can carry to what should be the width of the heel for a comfort walk. "The applications, which are numerous and varied, are evolving with changing needs. Ergonomics, which was first introduced into Home Science in 1986, was initially was barely hinted at as a first semester subject within Family Resource Management (earlier known as the Department of Home Management). Post 90, the department was renamed Resource Management as it expanded to include areas such as environment and consumer. Correspondingly, Ergonomics fanned out into four subjects, one per semester. They are Ergonomics and Work Environment (Semester 1), Work and Work Posture Analysis (Semester 2), Job Analysis and Optimization (Semester 3) and Consumer Ergonomics (Semester 4). In fact, today, at the Master's level, our Faculty has about 192 subjects," observes Prof Archana Bhatnagar, HoD, Resource Management, SNDTWU.

The best part is that from 2013 onwards, students have been given the choice of opting for one course from any available programme under the Faculty of Home Science and one course from any other faculty to ensure that they have the opportunity to understand other disciplines. "For example, M.Sc. Nutrition students can take a course on Child Right from the Department of Human Development and Womens Studies from the Center for Women Studies. M.Sc. students of Early Childhood Education could take a course on Financial Management from the Resource Management department and Special Education from the Faculty of Education", explains Prof Reeta Sonawat, Dean, Faculty of Home Science, SNDTWU.

Little surprising that in these days of Robotics Engineering and Space Science, 24-year-old Shreya Sanghvi is a proud post-graduate student in Early Childhood Education at SNDTWU. She enrolled for this course because, "tomorrow for whatever reason, if I am unable to work in an office, I know I can create a job for myself and for others".

Home Science: The Journey
"The Home Science programme in India will be completing 102 years in 2015. Home Science was first introduced in secondary schools in the erstwhile princely state of Baroda (now Vadodara) by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III in 1913. Under the British administration, Home Science was introduced into some schools and colleges as domestic science, home craft or domestic economy. Lady Irwin College in Delhi was the first college to offer Home Science in 1932. The Agricultural Institute of Allahabad started a Home Science Diploma course in 1935; this became a university level department in 1945. Madras University took Home Science to the degree level in 1938. The first Faculty of Home Science started in MS University, Vadodara in 1950," shares Prof Uma Joshi.
Today, at the Master's Level, Home Science has 192 subjects and counting.

10 popular Home Science programs recommended by Prof Reeta Sonawat

Food Science and Nutrition

Human Development

Early Childhood Education

Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics

Resource Management and Interior Design

Resource Management and Ergonomics

Extension Education

Human Ecology and Community Development

Communication Media for Children

Textile Science and Apparel Design