Sixty outstanding students from across the country have been chosen to be mentored and nurtured to excel in science and the performing arts under the newly launched Prime Minister’s Innovative Learning Programme.
Inaugurating the first batch of students of classes 9 to 12 on Thursday from Bengaluru, Union Minister for Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal said the programme would help the new generation reach their full potential and add to the nation’s creative assets. In turn, they would be pole stars ( Dhruv tara ) to the children of the country.
The students would be nurtured by experts at premier institutes and centres of excellence. Other domains would be added to the programme, Mr. Pokhriyal said in the presence of K. Sivan, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation. which hosted the inaugural event; Rina Ray, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy; Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma (retired), the first Indian cosmonaut; and the students chosen from government and private schools. Senior officials from the MHRD, Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Culture, and NITI Aayog were present.
In the next phase, the students will be mentored at IIT-Delhi and National Bal Bhavan on global issues such as the environment and climate change, pollution, terrorism, etc. Working in groups under expert guidance, three science teams of 10 students each will each present a project on the last day. The arts teams will choreograph a programme.
Apart from visiting places of scientific and cultural interest in Bengaluru and New Delhi, the youngsters would interact with experts in India and abroad through video conferencing.
Three students who built the Kalamsat-V2 nanosatellite and had it launched by ISRO in January this year made a presentation.
Three aces from State
All three students chosen from Karnataka are from Bengaluru. Pranjal Srivastava of National Public School, Koramangala, aced the International Maths Olympiad 2019. Abhiram M. of Delhi Public School, Bengaluru South, qualified for the 2018 National Talent Search Examination. Hrishitha Kedage is a student of Presidency School, Nandini Layout.
