Union Minister
Felicitates Winners of Viksit Bharat Buildathon 2025
Viksit
Bharat Buildathon 2025 Officially Enters the Guinness World Records as the
“Largest Innovation Solution Competition” with 2,87,967 Project Submissions.
Buildathon Empowers Students to Think Creatively, Identify Problems and Develop
Solutions: Shri Jayant Chaudhary. Shri Jayant Chaudhary Calls for Collective
Action on E-Waste Management, Highlights ULLAS’s Role in Promoting Adult
Literacy
Union Minister of
State for Education, Shri Jayant Chaudhary on 28th of October
felicitated 10 National level winning teams and innovators of Viksit Bharat
Buildathon (VBB) 2025 in New Delhi. The Guinness World Records certification
for VBB 2025 as the “Largest Innovation Solution Competition,” was also
presented at the function, marking a historic milestone for school education
and grassroots innovation in India. As part of the Event, the Minister also
launched the ‘Guidelines for Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) under ULLAS
– Nav Bharat Saaksharta Karyakram’. He also distributed prizes to the student
winners of the quiz competition based on e-waste.
Addressing the Event,
Shri Jayant Chaudhary reiterated the importance of fostering confidence,
creativity, innovation and independent thinking among children to mould them
into future leaders. Highlighting the Buildathon Initiative, he noted that
students were encouraged to identify problems and develop solutions
independently, without predefined problems or solutions. He appreciated the
participation of lakhs of students nationwide and acknowledged the role of
teachers in mentoring and guiding them.
Expressing concern at
the growing challenge of e-waste, Shri Chaudhary stressed on the need to
involve schoolchildren in addressing it, thereby paving the way for its
systematic management. He added that it was the shared responsibility of
institutions, communities and citizens to address the issue.
Acknowledging the role
of ULLAS in promoting adult literacy and restoring learners' dignity and
confidence, he said that the new Guidelines would enable student teachers to
play a vital role in empowering the nation.
Secretary, DARPG, Ms.
Nivedita Shukla Verma; Secretary, DoSEL, Shri T. K. Anil Kumar; senior
officials of the Ministry of Education; representatives and heads of autonomous
bodies, education departments of States/UTs and partner institutions, attended
the Event.
Viksit Bharat
Buildathon 2025
Organised by the
Department of School Education & Literacy (DoSEL), Union Ministry of
Education, in collaboration with Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, and
the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), VBB 2025 was initiated
to foster creative problem-solving, entrepreneurship, and scientific curiosity
among school students. Centred around four foundational pillars—Atmanirbhar
Bharat, Swadeshi, Vocal for Local, and Samriddh Bharat—the Initiative witnessed
an unprecedented grassroots response, recording 2,87,967 project submissions
across both Idea and Prototype tracks.
To evaluate the
solutions, a rigorous, three-tier assessment framework was instituted at the
district, state and national levels led by multidisciplinary expert panels.
Following comprehensive evaluations, 10 national awardees, 100 state awardees
and 1,000 district awardees were selected.
An award pool of over
₹1 crore was instituted across district, state and national levels. The 10
national winning teams were awarded a total cash prize of ₹17.50 lakhs . Under
the Prototype Track, each of the five top winning teams was awarded ₹2,50,000,
recognizing their functional working models. Each of the five winning teams
under the Idea Track received ₹1,00,000 to encourage the incubation and scaling
of their creative concepts. The winners who were felicitated today belonged to
Assam, Delhi, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Keralam, Madhya Pradesh,
Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
Special Campaign 6.0
Initiatives taken by
both the Departments (DoSEL and the Department of Higher Education) under the
Ministry under Special Campaign 6.0 highlighting the efforts to generate
awareness about e-waste and e-waste collection endeavours, were presented at
the Event. Secretary, DOSEL, Shri Anil Kumar also handed over the e-waste
collected during the Campaign to the authorised recycler/refurbisher.
Under the Campaign,
DoSEL had undertaken extensive drives to promote responsible e-waste management
in schools across the country. Several activities were organised in schools
today, including handing over of collected e-waste to authorised
recyclers/refurbishers, e-waste-themed morning assemblies and e-waste based
quizzes.
Guidelines for TEIs
under ULLAS
The ‘Guidelines for
Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) under ULLAS – Nav Bharat Saaksharta
Karyakram’ released at the Event, envisages the participation of student
teachers enrolled in NCTE-recognised teacher education programmes such as
B.Ed., B.P.Ed., M.Ed., M.P.Ed. and other recognised programmes as Volunteer
Teachers.
Under the Guidelines,
each student teacher will be required to facilitate the literacy and
certification of five to eight non-literate learners, with provision for
academic credits linked to successful learner certification. Developed by DoSEL
after extensive consultations with concerned stakeholders, the Guidelines also
clearly define the roles and responsibilities of NCTE, NCERT, CNCL, SCERTs,
DIETs, State Literacy Mission Authorities (SLMAs), District Authorities, TEIs
and student teachers for effective implementation.
Source:
PIB
