GANGTOK, Dec 2 - Niti Aayog has selected five schools from Sikkim to establish Atal Tinkering Laboratory (ATL) under its programme Atal Innovation Mission (AIM).
The five schools are amongst 257 schools selected from all over the country.
The Niti Aayog intends to establish ATLs in selected schools all across the country to help create an innovation eco-system in the country. These labs are expected to provide a platform where innovative ideas are generated to foster curiosity, creativity and imagination in young minds; and inculcate skills such as design mindset, computational thinking, adaptive learning, etc.
In the list of selected schools, 16 State Government schools from six States incuding four from Sikkim have been selected. Under this programme, each selected school will receive grant-in-aid that includes a one-time establishment fund of Rs 10 lakh and operational expenses of Rs 10 lakh for a maximum period of five years.
The Aayog had solicited applications from schools and colleges in the month of July and after preliminary screening 13,005 schools from all over the country were shortlisted. The selection criteria were based on availability of infrastructure, enrollment of students, academic performance of students in Class X and XII board exams during past three years, earlier participation of schools in national and regional level of programmes related to Science and linkages to mentor and resource institutions in the State.
Amongst these shortlisted schools, finally 595 schools were invited to attend final �Innovation Challenge round� in which the schools were asked to present their innovation plan.
