The Atal Tinkering Lab, aimed at encouraging innovation and an entrepreneurial ecosystem among children, was inaugurated at Jawahar School in Neyveli recently.
Inaugurating the facility, Rakesh Kumar, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of NLC India Ltd. (NLCIL), said Jawahar School was the only one in Neyveli town, and among the 25 in Cuddalore district, to be selected and provided with ATL., according to a press release.
Mr. Kumar emphasised the need for young minds to concentrate on the profession chosen by them and excel in it. He said that no profession was small or less important and advised the students to concentrate on the implementation of new technologies to ensure the growth of the country.
According to the release, the school has selected 40 students from classes VI to IX based on their interest shown by them and the marks obtained by them in Science. The ATL being promoted under the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) by the Union government aims at cultivating one million children in the country as neoteric innovators.
ATL is a workspace where young minds can give shape to their ideas through do-it-yourself mode, and learn innovation skills. Young children will get a chance to work with tools and equipment to understand the concepts of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). ATL would contain educational and learning ‘do it yourself’ kits and equipment on science, electronics, robotics, open-source microcontroller boards, sensors, and 3D printers and computers. Other facilities include meeting rooms and video conferencing facility
The aim is to stimulate a problem-solving innovative mindset within the children of the ATL and nearby communities. Till date, AIM has selected 10,000 schools in 680 districts for establishing ATLs. More than 9,500 ATLs have been established till now and over 2 million students have access to them. More than 70% of ATLs established are in government/government-aided schools/co-ed schools and over 2.1 lakh innovation projects have been created, the release added.
Sadish Babu executive director/human resources, NLCIL, P. Sathiamoorthy, chief general manager/HR and also vice-president of Jawahar Education Society, D.V.S.N. Murthy, secretary, Jawahar Schools and Sethumani, principal in charge of Jawahar CBSE school and teachers participated.
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