Focus: GS III- Science and Technology
Why in News?
In a first of its kind occurrence, around 1.5 lakh students from more than 5000 schools from India in the Atal Tinkering Labs programme of the Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog took part in a unique mega tinkering activity on the occasion of Children’s da.
About Atal Tinkering lab
- Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL) is one of the major initiatives of Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) under NITI Aayog to foster curiosity and innovative mindset in young students across India to encourage research and innovation in schools across the country.
- The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is the Government of India’s flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.
- AIM is mandated to create an umbrella structure to oversee innovation ecosystem of the country and revolutionizing the innovation eco-system touching upon the entire innovation life cycle through various programs.
- Vision: ‘Cultivate one Million children in India as Neoteric Innovators’, Atal Innovation Mission is establishing Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATLs) in schools across India.
- Objective: to foster curiosity, creativity and imagination in young minds; and inculcate skills such as design mindset, computational thinking, adaptive learning, physical computing etc.
- The Eligibility is of Schools (minimum Grade VI – X) managed by Government, local body or private trusts/society can set up ATL.
Significance of Atal Tinkering Lab
- Atal Tinkering Labs have evolved as epicenters for imparting these ‘skills of the future’ through practical applications based on self-learning.
- Bridging a crucial social divide, Atal Tinkering Labs provide equal opportunity to all children across the spectrum by working at the grassroot level, introducing children to the world of innovation and tinkering.
Atal Innovation Mission
AIM is Government of India’s flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.
Major Initiatives:
- Atal Tinkering Labs: Creating problem solving mindset across schools in India.
- Atal Incubation Centers: Fostering world class startups and adding a new dimension to the incubator model.
- Atal New India Challenges: Fostering product innovations and aligning them to the needs of various sectors/ministries.
- Mentor India Campaign: A national mentor network in collaboration with the public sector, corporates and institutions, to support all the initiatives of the mission.
- Atal Community Innovation Centre: To stimulate community centric innovation and ideas in the unserved /underserved regions of the country including Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
- Atal Research and Innovation for Small Enterprises (ARISE): To stimulate innovation and research in the MSME industry.
