Atal Innovation Mission

This is the story from a school that is more than 116 Years old and is dedicated to providing quality education in the area. The school has won innumerable recognitions in the Field of NCC Sports and Academics. With ATL, their focus and commitment is a lot on Innovations. Some key highlights are as follows:

 
• The students have presented their Innovation at BITS Pilani in Dubai 
• Have met with Russian President Mr. Vladimir Putin
• Have met Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi
• Presented their Innovation before President of India Hon. Shri Ramnath Kovind in Rashtrapati Bhawan 
• The school has also been selected for the CSIR award in 2018.
• The product made the students from the school’s ATL lab is on the verge of getting patented

   

This school always gets the things implemented with the pursuit to enhance the knowledge of technology and its advancements. In this context, the school invited the students of Govt Higher Secondary School from Nipania. They were from a tribal rural area of the State of Chhattisgarh.

The core objective was to give exposure to deserving students from another school for their development and knowledge enhancement. 26 Girls and 13 Boys students arrived at the ATL Lab for a well-planned 3D printing Workshop. The students at our school took no time to make each of the incoming students extremely comfortable. After their arrival at the ATL, they were greeted, and an overview of the entire lab was given to them. The day started with the basic Concept of TinkerCad and Cura software covering their objective and how they operate.

These students were motivated by science and technology. There was a special emphasis to get girl students for giving them exposure to 3D printing and its technology. Since they had never seen something like this, it all appeared unimaginable for them.  The 3D printing device was shown, and they were familiarized with the basic design made in TinkerCad.

The students themselves made the design of a keyring with their name printed on it. They were also allowed to print their design made by them. This was the first-ever experience of this kind of technology to tribal students. All of them were excited about the learnings. This Workshop lasted for Nine hours before their Departure to the School.  From the communication with them, it appeared that they were living with certain pre-conceived notions without a proper understanding of how things truly operate and impact through its usage.  This 8-hour workshop was divided into 3 sessions as follows:

• 1st session comprised of Ideation & Design Thinking
• 2nd session was into the entire functioning, understanding, and use of 3D printing
• 3rd session was of handshake activities

The sessions opened the gateway of creativity for everyone

As the day progressed, the feeling of joy, happiness, and learnings was clearly visible amongst all the participants. The motivation level was at an all-time high. The fact that they could design and print something of their own in the form of a key ring brought an immense level of satisfaction for them.

Few important takeaways for all the participants were as follows:

• The learning to see the right things from the right perspective.
• They learned the importance of having a scientific attitude
• They developed a newer sense of curiosity and enquired a lot about each of the technology present in the ATL

 

A workshop like this was very well appreciated by Dr. Manju Mitra, Retired Principal Govt Girls college and Homeopathy Physician. She had accompanied the students and oversaw the entire way the activities were conducted, and the learnings were imparted.

As the bus departed back to their school, it brought a fair exchange of learnings for both the school in newer aspects, thoughts, and imaginations that will ultimately pave the way for deeper scientific awareness for the entire area.

Vivek Khandelwal
Mentor of Change