The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) inaugurated the Innovation, Design, and Entrepreneurship (IDE) Bootcamp for principals and teachers of PM SHRI Schools through an online session. The three-phase national programme has been designed to embed design thinking, innovation pedagogy and entrepreneurship into school education, aligning with the vision of transforming classrooms into hubs of creativity and problem-solving.
The initiative seeks to empower school leaders and teachers with practical tools, structured frameworks and hands-on exposure required to implement innovation-driven practices at the school level. By focusing on experiential learning and entrepreneurial thinking, the bootcamp aims to move beyond conventional teaching methods and prepare students for real-world challenges from an early stage.
As per the official schedule, Phase 1 of the IDE Bootcamp is being conducted from December 17 to 19, 2025, across 14 locations in 12 states. Phase 2 will take place from December 22 to 24, 2025, covering 21 locations, while Phase 3 is scheduled from January 7 to 9, 2026, at 15 locations across the country. Together, the three phases ensure wide national outreach and participation.
The programme builds on earlier capacity-building workshops organised for District Education Officers and members of District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs). These workshops were conducted between October 30 and December 5, 2025, across 25 locations, spanning 26 states and Union Territories. Under the AICTE–Innovation Cell, a total of 46 bootcamps for higher education institutions and 48 bootcamps for schools have been organised so far, in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
According to the official press release, the IDE Bootcamp will involve over 200 subject experts, who will train more than 9,000 principals and teachers across 50 centres nationwide. The programme is being jointly implemented by the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), AICTE, the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell (MIC) and NCERT, in collaboration with the Wadhwani Foundation.
AICTE Chairman T G Sitharam said the initiative is aimed at shifting school education away from rote learning towards innovation-led practices. He noted that integrating design thinking and entrepreneurship at the school level would help institutionalise innovation in schools and nurture a confident, future-ready generation capable of solving complex problems.
Echoing similar views, Dheeraj Sahu, Additional Secretary and Director, DoSEL, underscored the pivotal role of principals and teachers in fostering innovation ecosystems within schools. He said the IDE Bootcamp is designed to equip educators with the necessary knowledge and tools to effectively guide innovation under the PM SHRI Schools initiative.