5000 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) covering schools in each district in the country to be operational by March 2019

New Delhi :   To promote innovation among secondary school students in the country about 5000 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) being set up under NITI Aayog will be operational by end of the current Financial year 2018-19 .

“Total 5,441 schools covering all districts in the country have been selected to set up Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) for nurturing innovation and entrepreneurial spirit among secondary school children across India. ATLs are being established to enable an innovation ecosystem, which will facilitate transformational change in technological innovation and pedagogyin the country” said Mr Ramanathan Ramanan, mission director, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), while speaking at the World Education Summit 2018 organised by Elets a non government body here today.

 “These schools equipped with ATL’s will  help greatly expand the reach of the ATL program, increasing the number of children exposed to tinkering and innovation and providing access to the young innovators of India to technologies like 3D Printing, Robotics, IoT and microprocessors”, said Shri Ramanathan Ramanan,.

“ It is expected These l schools will facilitate the creation of over One Million Neoteric Child Innovators by 2020. ATLs will function as innovation hubs for these student innovators to explore solutions to unique local problems which they come across in their everyday lives.” He said.

“With these new schools, NITI Aayog’s AIM envisions strong growth in the collaborative ecosystem created by the ATL initiative, where students, teachers, mentors and industry partners work to facilitate innovation, foster scientific temper and an entrepreneurial spirit in the children of today, who will go on to become successful contributors to nation-building tomorrow.” He added

“ The NITI Aayog has also has received strong response to its Mentor India campaign, under which the body has received over 5,000 applications.There is “fantastic response” with over 5,000 volunteers coming forward  for the Mentor India campaign.But we need more mentors , said Ramanan,

The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is the government’s flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.