Following a second round of applications, nearly 223 schools in Tamil Nadu have been selected to get Atal Tinkering Labs, under the NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM).
The schools are among a list of 3,000 additional institutions across the country identified to get the tinkering labs and will receive a grant of ₹20 lakh over the next five years.
“In the first round of applications, we had identified 171 schools in Tamil Nadu to get the tinkering labs. These labs will help promote innovation among youngsters and ensure that they have access to the technology to build on their ideas,” said Ramanathan Ramanan, Managing Director of the AIM.
Mr. Ramanan said the funds given to the schools would be used to procure technology such as 3D Printers and robotics kits. “We will also be backing up the labs by training teachers shortly,” he said.
In Tamil Nadu, all 32 districts have been covered with a total of 395 labs so far and nearly 70% of the schools selected were government and government-aided schools based on their applications.
Selection criteria
Schools were chosen based on whether they had the requisite space, basic infrastructure and faculty that was enthusiastic about STEM, as well as active student participation in events related to science. Once the lab is in place, students would be encouraged to look at real-world challenges ranging from irrigation management to waste segregation and create innovations for the same.
S. Gowri, secretary of the Anna Gem Science Park Matriculation Higher Secondary School and the Director EMMRC of UGC at Anna University, said that the school was selected under the AIM to set up the lab in the second round of applications. The school had applied last year.
“Having a dedicated space and creating the environment for encouraging students to come up with innovations is a welcome one. This will help students learn by doing and take learning beyond classrooms,” said Girija Devi, the principal of the school.
