Why in news?
India launched its largest school hackathon, the Viksit Bharat Buildathon 2025, in September 2025. The initiative encourages students to develop solutions aligned with the themes of self‑reliance and local innovation.
Vision and organisation
The buildathon is jointly organised by the Department of School Education & Literacy, the Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). It aims to reach over 1.5 lakh schools and involve more than one crore students from classes 6 to 12. Teams of five to seven students will work on real‑world challenges under the guidance of mentors from incubation centres and corporate partners.
Themes and timeline
- Atmanirbhar Bharat (self‑reliant India): Projects that reduce dependency on imports and enhance domestic manufacturing.
- Swadeshi: Solutions that revive traditional crafts, agriculture and indigenous knowledge.
- Vocal for Local: Ideas to promote local products, tourism and culture.
- Samriddhi (prosperity): Innovations that drive inclusive growth and sustainability.
Registration runs from late September until early October. Teams refine ideas through October, submit prototypes by the end of October, and winners are chosen after evaluations through the end of the year. More than a thousand winning teams will be felicitated in January 2026.
Importance
The Viksit Bharat Buildathon seeks to nurture creativity, critical thinking and teamwork among school students. By focusing on local problems and Indian culture, it aligns with the National Education Policy 2020’s emphasis on experiential learning and entrepreneurship. Success stories from the competition could feed into government programmes and start‑up accelerators, planting the seeds of future innovations.