Union Education Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan and Tribal Affairs Minister Shri Arjun Munda jointly launched the School Innovation Ambassador Training Program for 50,000 School Teachers from CBSE and Eklavya Model Residential Schools on 16th July 2021 from New Delhi.
Minister of State for Education Smt. Annpurna Devi, Dr. Subhas Sarkar and Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh were also present during the launch program.
Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell conceptualised this innovative program for school teachers across country and educational boards in the country. The program is being implemented jointly by Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell in coordination with Tribal Affairs Ministry, All India Council for Technical Education, and CBSE.
On this occasion Shri Dharmendra Pradhan said that, the teachers and students who will benefit from this program will solve the problems of tomorrow. The School Innovation Ambassador Training Program should not be limited to geography or educational boards but the teachers from across the world should be part of this ambitious training program in future. This program will considerably enhance the knowledge, creativity, and innovativeness in our students. He emphasised that the “trained teachers should take the responsibility of finding, addressing and nurturing the innovative skill of their students, so that they could become the leaders in solving tomorrows problems. He added that “this program will create a formidable base to compliment the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister, of solving the global issues”.
Union Tribal Affairs Minister thanked Ministry of Education for inviting tribal affairs ministry to be part of this program. He deemed School Innovation Ambassador Training Program very unique and important for Tribal Affairs Ministry run Eklavya Model Residential Schools for ST students. He stated “Ministry of Tribal Affairs will work in close coordination with Ministry of Education in implementing this program in its letter and spirit”.
Prof. Anil D. Sahasrabudhe, Chairman AICTE said that, AICTE will work towards making this program pervasive across schools with the support of Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell and CBSE. The program will create an on ground movement for Innovation and will inculcate the creative and out-of-the box thinking in our students.
Secretary, School Education, Ministry of Education Smt. Anita Karwal summarily said, “for the very first time AICTE and CBSE is working together to train teachers on various progressive concepts related to Innovation and Entrepreneurship”. She highlighted that we need to move towards skilling our school teachers and students apart from simple learning and school education.
CBSE Chairman, Shri Manoj Ahuja highlighted the importance of innovation, critical thinking and entrepreneurship in preparing students and teachers for the challenges of 21st century. He said that “this program will equip our teachers to mentor the curious and innovative minds in their classes. The teachers can guide the students in taking forward their ideas, so that they could be converted in to prototype and final products”.
During the launch program Dr. Abhay Jere, Chief Innovation Officer, Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell made a presentation on program structure, vision and details of the training modules. Dr. Jere highlighted the importance of Innovation Ambassador Training Program in creating the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship within the school education system. He said that the “Trained teachers will act as the on-ground change agents for promoting innovation, start-up and entrepreneurship activities within schools”
Under this unique program Ministry of Education aims at training 50,000 school teachers on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, IPR, Design Thinking, Product development, Idea generation etc.
The program draws its inspiration from New Education Policy 2020 which has laid huge emphasis on promoting out of the box thinking amongst students and nurturing young school students on problem-solving and critical thinking
The program will strengthen the mentoring capacity of School teachers for Nurturing and handholding ideas from students. The school teachers will be trained on the following five modules:
- Design Thinking & Innovation
- Idea generation & Ideal hand-holding
- Intellectual Property Rights
- Product / Prototype development
- Finance, HR and Sales
These modules will be offered free of cost to all the registered school teachers from 20th July 2021. These trained teachers will be designated as ‘Innovation Ambassadors’ of Ministry of Education.
The program ended with the vote of thanks by Prof. Anil D. Sahasrabudhe, Chairman AICTE.
