‘Inspire’ awards bring out creativity among young minds

Chittoor: Aiming to foster a culture of creative and innovative thinking among schoolchildren, the department of science and technology (DST) has been implementing a flagship programme ‘Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research’ (Inspire) Awards-MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspirations and Knowledge) for the past few years.

The objective is to give shape to students ideas which will benefit the society thereby inculcating creative thinking among them. It helps the enthusiastic young minds to showcase their talent and grab the awards at the nationwide competition.

Interestingly, Chittoor district has been standing on top of other districts in the state with highest number of experiments while the department of school education continues the same spirit to continue the practice this year as well.

While the focus of Inspire awards was on getting 10 lakh innovations from across the country, the district education department has made nominations mandatory by all schools under all managements. Every high school should submit five nominations online and upper primary schools should send three nominations of projects. The last date for submission of the project nominations is August 31 and there will be no exception to any school from this, said Chittoor DEO C Vijayendra Rao.

District science officer R V Ramana said that the guide teachers in the schools were asked to motivate students in preparing innovative projects. The project nominations should be sent online in the Inspire MANAK website: https://www.inspireawards-dst.gov.in and they should enter their school details.

The top 10 students who showed best innovation at national level will be invited to the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He expressed hope that the district will be on top among other districts this year also by sending maximum nominations.