A private school of Jamshedpur has set up Jharkhand's first Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL) by making the most of a Union government scheme aimed at fostering scientific curiosity, creativity and imagination in young minds.
Fittingly, DBMS English School in Kadma inaugurated an ATL on campus on Thursday, the second death anniversary of former president and space scientist A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
Tata Steel president (TQM and steel business) Anand Sen did the honours in the presence of DBMS Board of Trustees chairperson Bhanumathi Neelakantan, joint chairperson B. Chandrashekhar, board members, the principal teachers and of course students.
"I hope students make the best of this facility. Innovation in India is the need of the hour. This is the platform that will motivate you to take up research and help others. Maybe you can work on solid waste management, education and other problems using science and technology," Sen said.
Devised by Niti Aayog, the idea behind scheme was to set up laboratories in schools across the country to help students develop a design mindset, computational thinking and adaptive learning in areas of science, engineering and mathematics.
A chosen school receives a one-time grant of Rs 10 lakh and an additional Rs 10 lakh operational expense for a maximum of five years.
The CISCE-affiliated DBMS English School in Kadma has already received half of the Rs 20 lakh grant. Board chairperson Neelakantan said the school had an aero modelling unit with several equipment, like micro controllers, soldering units and 3D printers.
She said DBMS students of Class XI and Class XII had already developed trackers with sensors that can be used on unfriendly terrain. They had also worked on EV3MEG, a sensor-based load carrier and a circuit-based micro-controller used in lighting equipment.
Class XII student Ritwik Agarwal revealed some of their project ideas. "We are thinking of developing a mobile application that can function as a communication tool between grassroots beneficiaries of government schemes and the state government. There is a lot of corruption and communication problems in government offices which this app can help tackle," she said.
Principal Rajani Shekhar said they were also planning to harvest renewable energy from playground and were working to become a carbon neutral campus in the next 20 years. "The lab will not only help students, it will also increase capabilities of the faculty. We are ready to invite students of other schools too to come and do some innovative research," she said.
Two other schools await ATL inaugurations next month. These are Jamshedpur Public School in Baridih and Badri Narayan Saha DAV Public School, Giridih, both affiliated to CBSE. They were chosen from among 162 schools that submitted a 500-word summary on their efforts to promote science and technology, a list of activities as evidence and three-year academic records.
Nationally, 13,000 schools applied for ATLs in the first phase of which 595 were short-listed. After a scrutiny, a final list of 257 schools was drawn up.
Eight more schools would be starting the labs in the second phase. These are Kendriya Vidyalaya and Sri Sri Suryadev Singh Smriti Gurukulam of Dhanbad, Jawahar Navoday Vidyalaya of Giridih; Swami Shradhanand DAV Centenary Public School of Khunti, Netarhat Residential School of Latehar, S.S. Plus Two High School of Chandil in Seraikela-Kharsawan, and Sarala Birla Public School and Kendriya Vidyalaya if Dipatoli in Ranchi.
