Atal Tinkering Labs for all government schools in Bengaluru: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

NEW DELHI: Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar announced Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) for all government-run schools in Bengaluru as part of the Centre’s mission to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Wednesday said “ATLs will help young minds give shape to their ideas and create a problem-solving innovative mindset among the school children”.

“The young children will inculcate skills such as design mindset, computational thinking, adaptive learning, physical computing etc. and get a chance to work with tools and equipment to understand the concepts of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math),” the minister said.

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The Atal Tinkering Laboratories will have “educational and learning ‘do it yourself’ kits and equipment” on science, electronics, robotics, open-source microcontroller boards, sensors and 3D printers and computers. Meeting rooms and video conferencing facilities are the other facilities to be provided, the statement said.

ATLs were established in schools across India with an objective “to foster curiosity, creativity, and imagination in young minds; and inculcate skills such as design mindset, computational thinking, adaptive learning, physical computing etc” the official website of Atal Innovation Mission read.

The minister further added that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s focus has been on “institutionalizing the start-up ecosystem across the country by developing a systematic linkage amongst innovation, strategy, execution and market scaling”.