Government School Children Display Innovative Prototypes at ‘Innovation Carnival’

Bangalore's Agastya International Foundation is an Indian education trust and non-profit organization that has been running a one of its kind program with government schools in Maharashtra for close to 3 months.

The program encouraged underprivileged students to create solutions for issues around them and the prototypes of the same were on display at the Innovation Carnival. Mr. Ramji Raghavan, Chairperson, Agastya International Foundation, Ms. Ruchi Khemka, Head – CSR, Deutsche Bank India and Ms. Gayatri Nair Lobo, COO, A.T.E. Chandra Foundation were special guests at the carnival inauguration.

The Innovation Carnival is a culmination of the 3-month educational program initiated by the Agastya Foundation. The organisation has created innovation buses known as ‘Banao Buses’ to put innovative ideas on wheel and take them from school to school. The program focuses on sparking ideas and innovation within underprivileged children by providing them with information and a new way of thinking.

Students are trained to identify problems and innovate solutions with a design thinking approach. Throughout the course of the program, students are encouraged and guided to create prototypes of their own which were showcased at the Innovation Carnival.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ramji Raghavan, Chairperson, Agastya International Foundation said,

“We are extremely elated to finally put the protypes created by these bright children on display. Agastya has worked  with over 20 million children in 20 states, but this idea of the Banao Bus is a first and has only been implemented in Maharashtra so far. We realise that providing children with a new perspective and giving them the means to create their ideas can make a huge difference for the students and also our society. We use stories to motivate the students and trigger innovations which has instilled self-confidence in them. We are proud of every child that has partaken in this program and hope to inspire even more students through the Innovation Carnival”

Students participating in the carnival are from schools in Vashi, Belapur, Airoli, Nerul among others. The Carnival will be visited by about 800 students from different schools on each of the four days. Apart from the student exhibits, the carnival will also host 14 STEAM-based exhibits to help visiting students create a new and far more sustainable Earth along with workshops on design thinking, art etc.