ATAL TINKERING LABS – ALL QUESTIONS ANSWERED

What are Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs)?

With a view to giving a substantial boost to the Innovation ecosystem in Schools, NITI Aayog will establish 500 Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATL) in schools under the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM). It will provide a one-time establishment grant-in-aid of Rs 10 lakh for establishing ATLs across India. Also, an amount of Rs 10 lakh would be provided for each ATL over a period of five years for operational expenses of ATLs. Financial Support. Schools (Grade VI – XII) managed by Government, local body or private trusts/society to set up ATL can apply for this grant. Atal Tinkering Labs have the potential to take our Indian Education system out of the shackles of rote learning . The students participating in the ATLs will be encouraged, guided, mentored and enthused to work with Do-It-Yourselves (DIY) kits so that they develop a spirit of innovation and thereby build solutions. 

Vision of Atal Tinkering Labs

To ‘Cultivate one Million children in India as Neoteric Innovators’ under the Atal Innovation Mission in schools across India.

Key Objectives of Atal Tinkering Labs

The objective of ATLs scheme is to foster curiosity, creativity, and imagination in young minds; and inculcate skills such as design mindset, computational thinking, adaptive learning, physical computing etc. According to Amitabh Kant, CEO “The Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) will provide school students the opportunity to work with tools and equipment, fostering inventiveness. Students will also be able to exchange knowledge and learn from one another through regional and national-level competitions, exhibitions, workshops on problem-solving, designing and fabrication of products”.

What will Atal Tinkering Labs comprise of?

ATL is a workspace where young minds can give shape to their ideas through hands-on do-it-yourself mode, and learn innovation skills. Young children will get a chance to work with tools and equipment to understand the concepts of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). ATL would contain educational and learning ‘do it yourself’ kits and equipment on – science, electronics, robotics, open source microcontroller boards, sensors and 3D printers and computers. Other desirable facilities include meeting rooms and video conferencing facility.

In order to foster inventiveness among students, ATL can conduct different activities ranging from regional and national level competitions, exhibitions, workshops on problem-solving, designing and fabrication of products, lecture series etc. at periodic intervals.

How to set up Atal Tinkering Labs?

In the first round, 457 Schools were shortlisted who will be provided the government grant to set up ATLs  NITI Aayog has specified the guidelines for setting up the Atal Tinkering Laboratories. Download here.

The challenge that most schools shall face during the setup of these ATLs will be in finding suitable equipment along with appropriate training and support to run it smoothly. Hence the government authority has come up with an indicative vendors list to provide equipment for setting up Atal Tinkering laboratories. Building Blocks Learning Solutions (promoters of the brand Avishkaar Box) is one of the Indicative vendors who can provide the expertise and equipment for ATL set up.

ALSO READ: 5 commonly asked questions on Atal Tinkering Lab set up

Since the past decade, Building Blocks has been promoting Hands on Learning and Innovation in Schools across South East Asia through its Science and Robotics programs. The team at Building Blocks has extensive experienced in this field and the right skill set to provide apt machinery along with appropriate teacher training. Further, the team can collaborate in the curriculum, learning, and assessments so that students and teachers can effectively utilize the potential of these labs.