Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), a flagship initiative of Niti Aayog on Monday announced a collaboration with Vigyan Prasar, an autonomous organization of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India to drive synergies between AIM’s Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) and Vigyan Prasar’s unique interactivity platform, Engage With Science (EWS).

Engage with Science as part of the collaboration, will onboard all 9200+ ATL-enabled schools and engage their students, teachers and Principals in perennial activities. These activities will lead to accumulation of points based on which certificates and incentives will be provided to motivate students and teachers about STEM content consumption.

With a vision to ‘Cultivate one Million children in India as Neoteric Innovators’, Atal Innovation Mission has established 9200+ Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATLs) in schools across India. The main aim of ATL is to foster curiosity, creativity, and imagination in young minds simultaneously inculcating skills such as design mindset, computational thinking, adaptive learning, physical computing etc.

ATL is a workspace where young minds give shape to their ideas and learn skills through hands on do-it-yourself mode. Young children get a chance to work with tools and equipment to understand the concepts of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

Welcoming the collaboration, Dr Chintan Vaishnav, Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission, said: “The collaboration between AIM and Vigyan Prasar is a great opportunity for both organizations as it will play a vital role in reviving and updating our education practices to keep up with the technological advances. The Engage with Science program with ATLs will help foster the culture of STEM innovation and serve as a platform where young minds are exposed to experiential learning with the focus on invention, innovation, and collaborative problem-solving to maximize impact.”

Engage With Science is a part of the India Science OTT channel project and aims to publicise and popularize STEM video content on India Science (www.indiascience.in), the nation’s own STEM OTT channel. EWS already has more than 10,000 schools on board, and has regular activities targeting school Principals, teachers and students. Currently, EWS activities are available in Hindi and English, while an expansion into other Indian languages are also on the cards.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Nakul Parashar, Director, Vigyan Prasar, said: “The impressionistic STEM content consumer today demands interactivity – wants to be part of the action. By adding Engage With Science’s interactivity to the India Science OTT channel offering, Vigyan Prasar is set to create India’s first interactive OTT channel. And this collaboration with Atal Tinkering Labs will only galvanise schools to create a multiplier effect on STEM content consumption and interactivity.”

The event was also attended by renowned personality, Mr Sharman Joshi, Brand Ambassador of Engage With Science.

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DS/AKJ