Education Minister launches national hackathon to promote innovation

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan turned student for a day as he visited Kendriya Vidyalaya 2 in Delhi Cantonment on Monday.

He sat with Class I pupils and “learnt” the art of numbers during his visit, which formed part of the launch event for the Viksit Bharat Buildathon 2025 — a national innovation hackathon for school students from Classes VI to XII. The minister also interacted with students from other schools as part of the initiative.

Later, Pradhan visited Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, where he met students and teachers, observed innovative projects and gained insights into their learning processes.

Under the Buildathon, more than one crore students from 2.5 lakh schools across the country are being mobilised to ideate, design and develop prototypes around four national themes. The initiative is being organised by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Atal Innovation Mission.

The participating students, in teams of three to five, will focus on four themes: Aatmanirbhar Bharat – building self-reliant systems and solutions; Swadeshi – fostering indigenous ideas and innovation; Vocal for Local – promoting local products, crafts and resources; and Samriddhi – creating pathways to prosperity and sustainable growth, according to the ministry.

The winners of the Buildathon, which was launched on September 23, will be announced in December.

“The Buildathon is not only a competition but a mission, a movement to encourage innovation. I am confident that the innovative ideas germinated from here will pave the way for creating new global models and finding solutions to pressing domestic and global challenges,” Pradhan said.

The inaugural session was followed by a 120-minute live innovation challenge. Over one crore students took part in the two-hour tinkering session, working in teams to ideate and build prototypes based on the four themes.