THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) is developing an ecosystem in schools to turn students into entrepreneurs and innovators. The state government’s nodal agency for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state has thus started distributing electronic kits in schools.
The Kerala Infrastructure and Technology Education (KITE) has undertaken the initiative under the aegis of the Education department. So far, KSUM has distributed the kits among 50,000 students of government and aided schools so that they start experimenting at an early stage. Over 1,200 teachers have also been imparted hands-on training in the initial phase.
KSUM CEO Saji Gopinath said an innovative programme in association with the Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council, is also being implemented in all schools to identify and nurture students’ innovative skills and to guide them in entrepreneurship in the later stages of their school education.
“KITE has supported us in distributing the equipment in schools. At present, innovation centres are functioning in schools for Class IX, X and higher secondary students to help them identify their inborn skills for innovation and entrepreneurship purposes. In addition, Atal tinkering labs are also functioning in schools with the financial aid of the Centre for sharpening students’ innovative and entrepreneurship skills,” Saji said.
Atal tinkering labs in 600 schools
Atal tinkering lab is a Central Government-aided project and an initiative of the NITI Aayog which aims at fostering creativity and imagination as well as inculcating skills such as design mindset, computational thinking, physical computing and more in young minds.
It provides hands-on training to students from Class VI to XII for teaching them innovative skills and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) principles.K C Chandrasekharan Nair, NITI Aayog-approved mentor, said the labs are currently functioning in 450 out of 600 schools in the state. The rest of the schools will get the facility soon, he said.
“As many as 400 schools have full-fledged tinkering labs. At present, we are giving prominence to spreading awareness on the importance of entrepreneurship in students from Class III to Class V using the success stories of entrepreneurs,” Nair said.
“We will introduce classes VI to VIII to equipment for innovation, which includes 3D printers. For students in classes IX to XII, the focus will be on guiding them towards innovation and entrepreneurship so that they can choose their future,” he said.