Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurates school hackathon 'Viksit Bharat Buildathon'

Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday inaugurated the 'Viksit Bharat Buildathon', a nationwide initiative to engage students of classes 6-12 to develop innovative ideas that address real-life challenges.

Set up to be the largest-ever school hackathon, it goes live with events across schools nationwide on Monday.

As part of the initiative, more than one crore students from 250,000 schools across the country are being mobilised to ideate, design and develop prototypes under four pre-decided themes.

"The buildathon is not only a competition but a mission, a movement to encourage innovation," Pradhan said.

Events related to the Buildathon are being held on Monday and the winners will be announced in December. It was launched on September 23  It is being organised by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Atal Innovation Mission.

The Buildathon calls upon students studying in classes 6-12 to join teams, think creatively, and develop ideas and prototypes that address real-life challenges.

The students will work around four themes of national importance: 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.