In the modern world, energy and power are the basic needs of humankind. However, many energy resources are getting exhausted and wasted. Therefore, to utilize waste energy, Rajeev Kumar, Gaurav Prakash, Avinash Kumar, and Prabhat Kumar, a group of mechanical engineering students, made a project on Power Generation by Footstep (prototype). In this project, they are generating electrical power through a nonconventional method of utilizing footsteps by simply walking or running. This is one of the compact and efficient systems for generating electricity which can be easily installed in many regions.

Power Generation by Footstep

Proposal for the utilization of waste energy of foot power with human locomotion is relevant and important for highly populated countries like India and China where mobility of its masses will turn into a boon in generating electricity from footsteps. In India, places like roads, railway stations, bus stands, are all overcrowded and millions of people move round the clock. As a result, a large amount of power can be obtained with the use of this promising technology.

This process involves a number of simple setups that are installed under the walking platform. When people walk on this platform their body weight compresses the setup which rotates a dynamo or Sanyo coil and the current produced is stored in the dry battery. To reduce the external compression, a responsive subflooring system is installed.

Mechanical and Technical Aspects of the Project

The footstep arrangement is used to generate electrical power in order to compensate for the electric power demand. In this arrangement, mechanical energy is converted into electrical energy. The floor component of the project is made of rubber or other material which is placed within the surface areas. This section is mainly placed in crowded areas. This footstep arrangement is attached to the spring section. Footstep section consists of -

• Springs
• Gearwheel arrangement
• Rack and Pinion Section
• Dynamo

Click Here for Detailed Understanding of Project Working

Cheaper than Other Non-Conventional Energy Resources

The concept of producing energy using footsteps falls under the category of non-conventional energy resources. However, the simple and economic construction of the project unit makes it far more affordable and accessible as compared to solar energy or wind energy which require massive investment and upkeep. If scaled up, this alternative technology can emerge as the ultimate inexpensive source of all known forms of energy. Once implemented practically, depending upon the size & traffic flow, each footstep may produce tens of kilowatts of power every day which can be utilized for many applications.

Rajeev Kumar, Gaurav Prakash, Avinash Kumar Prabhat Kumar are finalists for the Most Innovative Educational Project Because…although in its prototype form, their Power Generation by Footsteps project presents a good example of the spirit of innovation. The simple and cost-effective nature of the project has the potential to scale its implementation and earn real benefits in terms of energy balance.

 To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Team Power Generation by Footsteps Click Here.

For years, we have mistreated and contaminated the very environment that sustains us. But the broad concern for the environment is so overwhelming that we don’t know where to start to make a significant difference. However, Sahil Arora, a class 12 student, is one such exception. The 18-year-old has worked relentlessly with the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to educate people about solar energy and climate change and even designed prototypes to address them.

Ornamental Tower

Design

Sahil, along with his classmates, designed the Ornamental Tower to purify pollutants in order to reduce air pollution. The model has solar panels attached to the side windows with a suction fan at the top of the tower. A perforated filter is placed under the suction fans, followed by a layer of charcoal and KOH. The outer sides of the tower are covered with air-purifying plants that are placed vertically to the tower.

Working of the Tower

The fan sucks the polluted air which then enters the perforated chamber where the dirt pollutants are separated. The air then enters into the main purifying chamber that contains filter candles that absorb harmful Sulphur, Nitrogen, and carbon oxides.

After passing through the layers of Charcoal and KOH, the pure air is released through the vents at the bottom into the environment. The air-purifying plants placed outside the tower also help in purifying the air and their vertical placement gives a larger and better area for plantation. The whole system is energy efficient as it works on solar energy which is a sustainable source of energy.

The Jal Chakra

Design

Another project by the Sahil is The Jal Chakra. The idea behind this project is to use defunct borewell systems to recharge the water table and prevent borewell deaths. The prototype developed by him can be used over discontinued borewells.

Working

The system has two valves. The first one is connected to the purifying plants while the second one is used to store rainwater which is later sent for purification. The system will not only help in preventing borewell deaths but also address the need to recharge the depleting water table. Low maintenance and installation costs and less use of chemicals are some of the many foreseeable advantages of The Jal Chakra.

Recognition

For his Ornamental Tower prototype, Sahil secured the first position at the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) exhibition. NISE regularly organizes exhibitions for the effective use of resources and solar energy.

He presented The Jal Chakra before the jury of INSPIRE Awards – MANAK. He has also presented both the prototypes before the officials of the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).

Sahil Arora is a finalist for Most Innovative Educational Project because…he has been instrumental in spreading awareness about major environmental issues and has designed and developed technological innovations to address major environmental concerns, and is committed to making the world a better place to live in.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Abhinav Datta Click Here.

Every ounce of technological innovation and ingenuity harnessed to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought us a step closer to overcoming it. Anishka, a class 9th student, who witnessed the ever-growing use of AI in the healthcare sector decided to design a bot that can help contain the virus.

Corona Detector Bot

During the first wave of the pandemic, Anishka designed the ‘Corona Detector Bot’ that can detect the presence of coronavirus in the surroundings and eventually sanitize the area. The USP of the prototype is that it is portable and fully automated, hence, requires no manual effort. She designed the bot under the guidance of her teacher - Ms. Neha Saini. It is currently in the initial stages and after some tweaks will be developed into a real-life-working model.

Click Here to Watch Video on Anishka’s Corona Detector Bot

Appreciation

For her out-of-the-box innovative thinking, Anishka received a certificate and a cash prize of Rs. 10,000 by INSPIRE Awards – Manak which is being executed under the aegis of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India.

Other Achievements

Anishka began journaling during the pandemic days and identified her passion for writing. Her first published work was a poem titled ‘Corona ko Harana Hai’ under the banner of Abhivyakti - SHARP NGO's Digital Magazine. So far, she has published numerous poetries on topics such as electricity, the Indian Cricket Team, and Yoga.

Click Here to View Anishka’s Certificates and Documents

Anishka Gaur is a finalist for Most Innovative Educational Project because… her innovative idea is the need of the hour in our continued battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. The prototype, if developed into a working model, has the potential to save many lives.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Anishka Gaur Click Here.

COVID-19 and the ensuing Lockdown gave us our first taste of being stuck in a cage. While many took to the Internet for entertainment through Instagram Reels and TikTok Videos, others thought of using their time and effort on the Internet in a more constructive way. Om Kumara Class 8 student from RPVV School Sec-19 Dwarka – Delhi, was among the latter.

At the young age of 13, Om Kumar developed 5 fully-functional and user-friendly websites to spread awareness about some of the most important social issues including Save Water By Om, Mann-Parichay, Jagruk Bhai, Ecology, and Environment, and Swachh Bharat By Om. He used his free time to employ digital technology and create online resources that can help create awareness about these issues among people, especially young students like him.

Using the Internet for Social Awareness

Om decided to use digital platforms and online initiatives to spread awareness about social causes because of the reach they offer. Unlike physical means such as posters and banners, digital portals and websites can be accessed by people worldwide using the Internet. This gave him the idea of devoting his time to developing some creative online projects to spread awareness about social causes.

Websites on Social Causes

The five websites created by Om have a very unique and user-friendly interface and style. These websites have been ideated, designed, developed, and created by Om and have information and topics that he specially researched for these causes. The presentation of information on different social causes and the interactive tools used to amplify the message have been appreciated by his audiences; especially young students. In addition to students, these websites have also received praise from all quarters including governmental agencies. The different websites are -

• ‘Save Water, Save Life By Om’ is aimed at spreading awareness for Water Conservation.
• ‘Ecology & Environment’ promotes awareness for Environmental Conservation.
• ‘Swachh Bharat by Om’ inspires the viewers about the need for Cleanliness in our Environment.
• ‘Mann-Parichay’ creates awareness for Mental Health using Good Sayings and Inspiring Articles.
• ‘Jagruk Bhai’ educates the viewers about various Social Issues through an innovative Cartoon Character ‘Jagruk Bhai’.

Talking about his inspiration to develop websites for social awareness, Om says that a Sanskrit Shloka ‘पृथिव्यां त्रीणि रत्नानि जलमन्नं सुभाषितम्’ which means that Our Planet Earth has Only 3 Gems which are Water, Grain (Environment) and Good Sayings (Inspiring Articles) respectively, inspired him to build these digital assets.

Other Achievements

Apart from developing these websites, Om Kumar has won several National Level Competitions including Water Heroes Contest. For his website on Save Water, he was selected as the winner of the Prestigious National 'Water Hero: Share Your Story Contest (March: 2021) by the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation; Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India.

Click Here for More Details

His efforts in creating this website were also recognized by the Twitter handle of MyGov India. This post on Twitter was seen by more than 18 thousand people across the globe. This Achievement can also be seen in the TRANSFORMING INDIA Portal of the Government of India.

He was the Youngest Speaker at a National Debate by THE HINDU and was also selected as the Youngest Speaker for The Hindu National Youth Debate on the topic Vision for India 2040. He holds a National record for posting the maximum number of videos of National Interest on YouTube in one day using the Digital Medium (IT).

Click Here to Watch Video Hosted on Jal Shakti Ministry’s website.

Click Here for Post Link to Winner’s Announcement - Water Heroes Share Your Stories Contest

Click Here to Check India Book of Records Award – Maximum Number of Videos Posted on National Interest on YouTube

Future Plans To Inspire Others Through His Work

Talking about his plans, he feels that this is just a start. In the future, Om plans to start a series of videos on the character ‘Jagruk Bhai’ to spread Awareness on various Social Issues. His websites are regularly updated by him to add more interactive and informative tools for users. Apart from his websites, he also regularly post videos on several topics including social causes on his blog ( https://myblog-om.blogspot.com ) and other Social Media Platforms like YouTube.

Click Here to watch Short Film ‘निवेदन’ on Covid Appropriate Behaviour (Approved by MP Govt)

Click Here to watch Short Film ‘Swachh Bharat’ on My Contribution Towards Making India Clean

Om Kumar is a finalist for the Most Creative Online Initiative Because…amid the unprecedented challenge of COVID-19, he thought of making use of the internet in an innovative way to spread awareness about social causes. Thousands of people have seen his efforts and applauded his spirit of using digital means to build social awareness.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Om Kumar Click Here.

A nation’s development depends on how educated its citizens are given that education is a major contributor driving economic growth and bringing positive social change. Taking this into consideration, Kunal Kumar, a class 12 student, launched three websites to help students gain knowledge in various fields and generate income. 

Website 1 - Fintech Learner

Fintech Learner is a professional learning platform that helps people learn computer programs and other technologies that are used to support or enable banking and financial services. The website provides an overview of investing, investment strategy, crypto marker, business models, personal finance, and so forth.

Click Here to Reach Fintech Learner Website

Website 2 - Key Points

The website is designed for underprivileged students who wish to generate passive income to continue their studies or help their families in making ends meet. The website gives insights on how to earn money online through blogging, other digital marketing tools, etc.

Click Here to Reach KeyPoints Website

Website 3 - DK Technical Mate

DK Technical Mate is an ed-tech platform for tech enthusiasts. The website provides information on the latest technologies and drones. It guides you regarding the best drones available in the market so that you can purchase them according to your preference. The website is in its infant stage but Kunal plans to expand it further.

Click Here to Reach DKTechnicalMate Website

Kunal Kumar is a finalist for Most Creative Online Initiative because… at a young age, he has launched three websites to help students keep abreast with the latest technological developments in fintech and other fields. Along with helping students amass knowledge, these websites also help students earn a passive source of income. 

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Kunal Kumar Click Here.

Akshit Nayyar realized that the "middlemen" took around 10-20% of the cut when it comes to traditional fundraising platforms. So, after intense study of the finance sector, he along with his two friends created Donaterra – a new-age fundraising platform based on Cryptocurrency. Donaterra uses cryptocurrencies as a solution that takes 0% profits from users and does not even need any tips from donors to sustain the platform. Donaterra is all about making a change to the current malpractices in the crowdfunding scenario. They aim to change the prescience of people on the frauds that web2 fundraisers have.

Donaterra - Platform to Save lives using Cryptocurrency

During COVID-19, Akshit found that people were desperately looking for help online to get medical funding for clearing their fast-piling bills. While trying to arrange financial help for people, he along with his friends realized that a huge amount was being collected via "premiums" by traditional fundraising platforms. Besides this, modern fundraising platforms were taking huge amounts in so-called "tips" from donors that could otherwise save lives.

To address this problem, they got in touch with a team of blockchain enthusiasts with the primary goal to create something that would replace the current manner in which fundraising worked. They decided to use Cryptocurrency to keep complete transparency and honesty throughout the process of raising funds and their delivery to the person in need. Thus, was born Donaterra - a simple, secure, and easy-to-use fundraising service that allows donors to see the impact they make.

Click Here for more details about Doneterra

How To Use Donaterra?

Currently, Donaterra is in the beta stage and the team is working towards its completion. The platform is built around the Tegra blockchain, which allows users to donate via the UST stable coin and is one of the more advanced, stable, and reliable cryptos out there. The platform operation has been kept very simple and straightforward to avoid any complications for either the donor or the beneficiary. People who need medical funds or assistance share their terra addresses with the Donaterra team.

The team reaches out to prospective Donors and receives money on behalf of the Beneficiaries until the time of their operation / medical treatment. During this period, the money is staked safely using terra's validators. Once the medical treatment of the beneficiary is completed and it’s time to make the payment, the Donaterra team withdraws the UST and sends it to them via smart contracts for execution of the transaction. In case any type of manipulation is noticed during the fundraiser, the money is auto returned to the donors via smart contracts.

Click Here to Watch a video on Donaterra

How Does Donaterra Work?

Donaterra works on the Terra blockchain, allowing users to donate via the UST stable coin. If anyone ever needs help in paying medical bills, Donaterra and its users will help. Using the most secure and reliable measures, this app built on web3 allows users to create fundraisers and donate to them. Akshit and his team knew they wanted to help society, and with their past experiences, it made sense to correct an ongoing mistake.

The entire project was built in-house with the team dividing different tasks among themselves, to suit each one's skillset. They used react.js to build this app, established smart contracts using Rust. The UI is built using Figma.

Akshit Nayyar is a finalist for Most Creative Online Initiative Because…amid the pandemic, he created Doneterra - Crypto Fundraising platform which has the potential to simplify a complex task like fundraising. With no fees, 100% transparency, and Zero Fraud Tolerance, Donaterra offers an alternative that overcomes the shortcomings of current fundraising platforms.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Akshit Nayyar Click Here.

The education sector is undergoing a revolution and it is important that 21st century India gears up to fulfill the Sustainable Development Goal of inclusive education. To do so, Subha Chandrashekhar, registered Rehabilitation Practitioner and Special Educator has founded Anugraham to empower students, teachers, and parents by nurturing and providing them with skills of the 21st century. She has been a leader in initiating inclusive educational programs in mainstream schools to ensure that no child is left behind.

Outreach during the Pandemic

During the pandemic, Subha worked with grass-root level teachers and Special Educators of Assam, West Bengal, and Jharkhand to ensure that the quality of services for children with special needs remained in sync with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (RPWD Act, India 2016). She conducted training programs on the relevance, effectiveness, and sustainability of inclusive education programs at district levels. She also conducted capacity-building programs for Policymakers, School Leaders, General Education Teachers, Special Educators, and parents by helping them to make online classes accessible for the CWSN. She also provided consultancy to different National Institutes and Non-Governmental Organizations for training Special Educators on inclusive strategies and flexible curricula.

Acceptance, Empathy, Inclusion at ANUGRAHAM

In her current role, Subha Chandrashekhar is the Founder-Director of ‘ANUGRAHAM’, an initiative meant to spread awareness and empathy towards the acceptance of specially-abled students. Through capacity-building programs, Anugraham aims to empower Special Educators, general educators, and parents. Subha is collaborating between general education teachers and special educators for all children.

Anugraham seeks to empower teachers by nurturing and providing them with skills to teach the students of the 21st century. Flexibility and pace are what students want and it’s critical we adapt to their needs and facilitate lifelong learning.

Click Here to reach the Official Website of ANUGRAHAM

Achievement

Subha Chandrashekhar won the Global Teacher Grants competition 2021 -2022, sponsored by the US Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).  She has been working for over 26 years in the field of inclusive education as a Special Educator & Rehabilitation Practitioner working with cross-disability categories of Children with Special Needs (CWSN) including children with Intellectual Disabilities, Specific Learning Disabilities, Autism, Hearing Impairment, Visual Impairment, Locomotor Disabilities and Emotional Disturbances from Pre-Primary, Primary, Secondary and Higher-Secondary classes.

Click Here to Check Awards and Certificates Document

Also, she gives counselling to students of classes IV onwards on Life skills and specific individual problems. She not only provides counselling to students but also provides counselling and guidance to teachers and parents of students from Nursery to Class XII.

Click Here for Fulbright USIEF Teacher Alumni Award – Grant Award Document

Subha Chandrashekhar is a finalist for Best Initiative (For Children with Special Needs [CWSN]) Because…she has worked extensively with grass-roots level teachers, policymakers, and school leaders for the betterment of CWSN and throughAnugraham, is continuing her work for larger impact. Her project also focuses on enhancing learning opportunities for children with disabilities by promoting a rights-based approach to inclusive education.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Subha Chandrashekhar Click Here.

MsSameexa Saxena, Physical Education Teacher at Delhi's Ahlcon International School is on a mission to shape the future of one child with special needs. She is a qualified swimming coach and wants to train children to become good swimmers and represent India on the International level as in Paralympics. Her zeal to help specially-abled children excel in different spheres led her to meet Shiv Juneja -a student with special needs at her school. Looking at Shiv’s potential and the commitment to work hard on his swimming skills, Sameexa took him under her wing and has been training him to reach his true potential.

Achievements  

The journey of training Shiv was a tough task for Sameexa, but despite the challenges, she pushed and motivated him to continue learning the necessary skills to excel in swimming. Thanks to the motivation and coaching of Ms. Saxena, Shiv has managed to not only perform well but excel in several national and international-level competitions.

Shiv has bagged two gold medals, one silver, and bronze at Delhi state para-Swimming meet 2019 held at VenkateswarGlobal School, Delhi, and 5th Inclusive Inter-School Swimming competition 2019 held at Step-by-Step Noida. Shiv Juneja has also been selected to compete in XXI-National Para Swimming Championship 2021-2022 which will be held at Maharana Pratap Khel Gaon Swimming Pool, Rajasthan from March 23-26, 2022. 

Ms. Sameexa Saxena is a finalist for Best Initiative (For Children with Special Needs [CWSN]) because...she saw the potential of a specially-abled child and coached him to learn the necessary skills and techniques to help him excel as a swimmer. In the future, she plans on reaching out to more specially-abled children and helping them as well.  

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Ms. Sameexa Saxena Click Here.

“Children are the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.”

― John F. Kennedy

This is probably one of the most powerful lines that define the importance of children and the role they play in building the future of a country. However, during the last two years of the pandemic, they have been one of the most neglected groups. Thanks to Lockdowns, School Closures, and Other Precautionary Measures, Children have failed to get quality education and have incurred irreversible learning loss. But as they say, challenges also offer a new opportunity and hope to shine and that is exactly what Riyad Maroof Hassan – a 13-year student from Shiksha Valley School, Dibrugarh – Assam has done.

Riyad founded Clippers Media House – a digital-first initiative that helps young students like him to connect and network globally to empower children for self-development and empowerment. The initiative works towards Creative and Educational Growth among Children through Audio and Video-based Learning.

Video-based Learning

Riyad’s Clippers Media House started as a video platform, where he produced videos that are aimed at helping students develop their creativity and promote educational growth among children. As part of the Clippers Media House, Riyad has produced a series of Shows on YouTube covering ‘Video Box’ an Interview series where he interacts with other children who are involved in different initiatives and are working towards the betterment of society. The interview series also featured some prominent personalities including Nandini Nayar, Preeti Vyas, Rachel Hedman, Usha Venkatraman, Smita Bhattacharya, filmmaker Debjani Mukherjee, and Jeeva Raghunath.

In addition to this, he has also produced Trouvaille – the world's first-ever Historical Web Show to be developed by children. The show presents important landmarks of Indian History in a creative and interesting manner that is both educational and entertaining at the same time.

Click Here to Watch Video Box Interview Series

Click Here to Watch Trouvaille – Historical Web Show

The Clippers Child Council of India

To bring like-minded Children together and build a network, Riyad founded The Clippers Child Council of India. The Council is one of a kind, by the children for the children run council that has brought 22 bright young minds who collaborate on different topics and events. The council has been involved in the organization of several educational events across India that are aimed at helping highlight the importance of creativity among children. The Clippers Child Council of India has been successfully spreading the message of creativity among students through competitions, conferences, and events.

Podcast @ A Sketch Of The Sky

Inspired by the success of his Video Box Series, Riyad also launched a Podcast called A Sketch Of The Sky. The podcast was produced in a talk-show format and featured conversations with Karadi Tales, one of the best independent children's publishing houses. This was followed by interviews with the winning eminent author of India, Nandini Nayar. Then Preeti Vyas, Usha Venkatraman, Hema Subramanian, Rachel Hedman, Wizard Within, and Smita Bhattacharya.

Click Here to Listen to A Sketch Of The Sky Podcast

Apart from India, Riyad’s podcast ‘A Sketch Of The Sky’ has had Listenership from across the globe including from countries such as the United States, Sweden, Canada, Nepal, and Ireland, from different age groups.

Literature On Screen

Riyad founded Literature on Screen – a social media organization that spreads awareness about Indian English Literature virtually throughout the globe. The organization publishes various types and kinds of literary forms and promotes them among its readers. The group tries to research and promote Indian Writing in English/Indian English Literature among the youth and aspiring writers.

Other Achievements

Riyad’s efforts have been appreciated by several organizations. At a young age, he has been conferred the honour of being the Youngest Writer of Assam and was awarded as Social Influencer in the Top 20 Under 20 Influencer Awards 2021. He has also been appointed by MIT Square, London as Young Program Lead of its Child Development Initiatives department. Recently, he was also selected as the Global Child Rights Ambassador for JAP Global.

Riyad Maroof Hassan is the finalist for Student Ambassador (Popular Choice) Because…at the young age of 13, Riyad has been promoting the noble cause of child empowerment and development of creative pursuits among children. With his efforts, Riyad has helped ignite young minds while also being an inspiration for others.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Riyad Maroof Hassan Click Here.

The youth constitute 22% of India’s population, which is more than 261 million people. The youth of a nation are the leaders of tomorrow and so it is vital to not only educate them but also instil good values in them. The role of the youth in nation-building is pivotal and Mudit Pathak, a 3rd Year student at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Evening College, Delhi University discovered this early on. After realizing how the youth were struggling financially to meet their expenses, he decided to launch PLAN_IT_4U – a Youth Event Management Firm. Through this, Mudit is providing part-time jobs and internships to college-going youth.

PLAN_IT_4U – An Event Management Firm by the Youth, for the Youth

Mudit, started his career when he was in his 1st year of college. He started his Sole Proprietary event management firm by the name of PLAN_IT_4U registered under the government of India. Also, it is India's first event management company that is run by the youth. The reason behind beginning this startup is to provide part-time jobs and internships to all the college-going youth and to connect them with the corporate world.

Another objective of this start-up is to help the youth become financially independent and learn practical things. The company is currently bootstrapped, but depending on the need, may approach investors for funding in the future.

Impact of PLAN_IT_4U      

The organisation has impacted 1000+ youths and with a team of 100+ interns that are wary in number depending on the need. The motivation behind PLAN_IT_4U was to empower the youth by giving them Corporate Exposure from the very basic level to increase their practical knowledge. Mudit and his team have worked with Nasiruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapoor, Geeta Dutta, and other celebrities from reality shows.

As of now, PLAN_IT_4U has completed 10 nationally recognized events. They have organized various events including the Delhi Theatre festival, Modelling events, dance events, collaboration with Delhi University colleges to support their events.

Other Initiatives for the betterment of students’ community and society

ARTISTIC_BYNATURE: Mudit created a platform for artists to learn, earn and grow. This platform organized regular events for budding artists and allowed them to collaborate and learn from each other while also exploring new art forms.

THEYOGI_GANG: Mudit believes that empowering Youth is the primary need of the hour as it would lay a strong foundation for India’s bright tomorrow. Along these lines, he also started the THEYOGI_GANG initiative under which workshops and training were organized in different schools and colleges regarding practical education. THEYOGI_GANG held workshops on several key topics and issues of interest to the youth such as Menstrual Hygiene, Entrepreneurship, and the Art of Volunteering.

Poems Published: Mudit has also written and published a series of poems that help him express his ideas and vision for the future. The link to some of his poems are given below:

Click Here to Listen to क्या तुम सुन रही हो Poem by Mudit Pathak

Click Here to Listen to BHARAT GIRL_UP Poem by Mudit Pathak

Click Here to Listen to Mothers DayPoem by Mudit Pathak

Books Published: Mudit has also published two books that help express his creative side:

Click Here to Read A TALE TUCKED BENEATH SOLICITUDE: "PYAR KARA NAHI JAATA, HO JAATA HAI"

Click Here to Read Khwaish: A one-sided love story

BHARAT_GIRLUP Initiative and Impact

During COVID-19 lockdown, Mudit Pathak & Pranjul Tyagi jointly started this initiative under United Nations Foundation. BHARAT_GIRLUP is an initiative to empower women. Initially, they both started alone but then they started taking volunteers and eventually ended up being a team of 100 team members from different schools, colleges. They organized campaigns, events, workshops, talk shows, seminars, sessions, summer camps to empower and spread equality. It's been more than a year since BHARAT_GIRLUP started. They have impacted youths of schools by creating a safe environment for both boys and girls to talk about periods, Menstrual hygiene, sex.

Mudit Pathak is a finalist for Student Ambassador (Popular Choice) Because… he firmly believes in the power of youth and is working to enable them to be better citizens for tomorrow. Be it through this start-up or other student-centric activities, Mudit has helped college-going youths tobecome financially independent and gain practical knowledge to face the corporate world. 

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Mudit Pathak Click Here.

Depressions, Suicide and Anxiety; these words which were mostly discussed in clinical settings have now become part of the daily conversation among children. While issues and challenges around mental health have grown exponentially, our habit of brushing them under the carpet has also continued. But, unfortunately, the ‘out of sight out of mind’ policy doesn’t work when it comes to Mental Wellbeing. As per a recent study by WHO - mental health problems amount to 2443 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) per 10000 population; on similar lines, the age-adjusted suicide rate per 100000 population has also exploded to reach 21.1. These stats may look surprising at first glance, but a careful peek underneath reveals how mental health has become a gargantuan challenge for our society.

While we adults continue to brush the topic aside with ease, the younger generation which is one of the most fatal victims of this problem has taken it upon itself to address this challenge. Krishna Saproo – a Class 12 student from KC Public School, Jammu has launched MaunitvaNirakarn – A Mental Health Awareness Initiative, which helps youngsters suffering from mental health issues by giving them a safe space to express themselves.

MaunitvaNirakarn – A Mental Health Awareness Initiative

I don’t think people understand how stressful it is to explain what’s going on in your head when you don’t even understand it yourself.

Krishna Saproo, a teenager has started an initiative - MaunitvaNirakarn, that focuses on Mental Health well-being. MaunitvaNirakarn, which translates to ‘Inner Peace’ in Sanskrit, is a movement to help youngsters affected by mental disorders to find a safe space to express themselves and talk openly about it. The foundation focuses on people's mental health and raises awareness through awareness programmes.

Krishna shares that often students and people who talk about their mental health challenges and issues are either mocked or ignored. Through MaunitvaNirakarn, Krishna and his team are trying to build a safe ecosystem for such people and provide them an accommodating environment where free, open and forward-thinking conversations around Mental Health can take place.

Using Ancient Indian Practices To Cure Mental Health Issues

MaunitvaNirakarn is mainly concerned with mental health, climate change, and gender equality. It advocates the cause of sustainable development and is actively engaged in spreading awareness about mental health awareness. It aims to revive Ancient Indian practices to cure Mental Health problems and is working on an application that could provide mental health assistance to people at a subsidized rate. It had also started an initiative for those in need of COVID resources and was able to help a lot of people through this initiative.

Social Outreach with MaunitvaNirakarn

To address Mental Health concerns, Krishna has started a podcast with students of a reputed school from Jammu and Kashmir. The podcast is based on social awareness. Apart from this, he has started a project namedVartalaap along with slum area kids under which they teach them about Mental Health and spread awareness about personal hygiene. They help them to provide basic education. They have also organized a Webinar series with people all across India.

Achievements and Future Plans

Till now, MaunitvaNirakarn has conducted 60+ webinars on mental health awareness and plans to launch a new series of webinars from June 2022 onwards. These webinars have gotten great responses with over 2500+ youngsters benefiting from them. So far, the MaunitvaNirakarn initiative has reached 20+ Indian cities with plans to go global in the future.

Going forward, Krishna plans to help accommodate mental health as part of the formal school curriculum to evolve a better understanding of the topic among students. He also plans to launch an educational programme on mental health and personal hygiene in slum areas to train and guide children from poor and marginalized families.

Krishna Saproo is a finalist for Student Ambassador (Popular Choice) Because… at a time when youngsters were ignoring their mental health, he decided to inspire others to join hands and launch an initiative run by and for the youth to spread awareness about Mental Health and Well Being through awareness campaigns, workshops, and music. In the future, Krishna also plans to draft a proposal to make mental health a formal part of the school curriculum.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Krishna Saproo Click Here.

COVID-19 was a health emergency of unfathomable proportion; but at the same time, it was also a misinformation pandemic, where fake news and half-truths ruled people’s psyche. Myths about COVID-19 infection, ways in which the disease could spread, incorrect data about infection rates, and the number of people infected or dead due to the pandemic made daily Headlines in News Paper Headlines and Prime Time News Shows. It was a new and evolving situation for everyone, including people, public personalities, politicians, and even the government. But behind all this chaos, there were a few unknown faces at work to help find and propagate the Truth.

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.” - Marie Curie

Staying true to the words of the First Woman to Win the Nobel Prize, Ishan Gupta – MBBS Student at AIIMS, New Delhi also embarked on the mission to understand COVID-19 and its different aspects from a scientific perspective. During the pandemic, Ishan was involved in multiple research projects about COVID-19 and how it infects and impacts people. Conducted and Published research papers on different topics related to COVID-19, ranging from the effectiveness of Covaxin (BBV152) and COVID-19 induced Mucormycosis among others.

Research on Effectiveness of Covaxin (BBV152) among Healthcare Workers

When scientists and researchers from across the globe were trying to come up with an effective vaccine to counter COVID-19, India’s BHARAT BioTech developed India's First Indigenous COVID-19 Vaccine. The indigenous vaccine uses Whole-Virion Inactivated Vero Cell-derived platform technology. While it was a proud moment that India was one of the few and first countries to have its own indigenously developed COVID-19 Vaccine, there was a lot of confusion and misinformation about its effectiveness and efficacy.

To clear the air around it, Ishan along with a larger group of researchers studied the efficacy of COVAXIN (BBV152) among Health Workers. The group studied the SARS-CoV-2 reinfection rate and estimated the effectiveness of the inactivated whole virion vaccine BBV152 against reinfection among health care workers (HCWs). The study concluded seen that BBV152 (Covaxin) was associated with more than 85% effectiveness against reinfection in HCWs following a complete vaccination schedule.

Risk Factors around COVID-19 Induced Mucormycosis

During the 2^nd wave of COVID-19 along with the challenge of the COVID-19 virus, doctors were also faced with another threatening disease i.e., Mucormycosis. Commonly known as Black Fungus, the fungal infection wreaked havoc and was often blamed to be a new variant or symptom of the COVID-19 virus. To offer more clarity on the matter, Ishan along with a group of researchers published a paper about ‘Risk Factors for Coronavirus disease-associated Mucormycosis.

The study concluded that steroids should be used judiciously to prevent Coronavirus disease-associated Mucormycosis. Also, newer risk factors like prolonged use of cloth and surgical masks and repeated nasopharyngeal swab testing for the COVID-19 illness were found to be contributing to the rise in Mucormycosis infections during the 2^nd wave of the pandemic.

Study on COVID-19 Infection among Pregnant Women

Another major concern that was highlighted during the 2^nd wave of the pandemic was the rising infection numbers among pregnant women. To address health concerns and confusion about the same, Ishan with involved in the systematic review of clinical and laboratory parameters of 3,000 COVID-19 cases; Obstet Gynecol Sci. 2021. The research effectively proved that there was no evidence of vertical transmission of COVID-19 infection. The study also concluded that the clinical symptoms of COVID-19 were similar among pregnant and non-pregnant women. This helped policymakers, health caregivers, and primary physicians to promote early diagnosis and prevention among pregnant women.

Study on Impact of Increased Screen Time on Academic Performance 

During the pandemic, education shifted to online mode increasing the students’ time to gadgets and screens. To assess the impact of this development, Ishan conducted brief research linking increased screen time with excessive daytime sleepiness and poor quality of sleep, which in turn led to the deterioration of the academic performance of university students. The Sleep Research study was conducted to correlate the daytime absolute power of electroencephalography (EEG) findings with academic performance and screen time in young adults.

The key findings of this research were that among the research subjects, those who were exposed to fewer gadgets and less screen time had good quality sleep which led to lower sleep latency. Consequently, they fared better academically as compared to their counterparts with high screen time. Ishan also found a statistically significant correlation of EEG absolute powers with the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale and academic performance shows that these are better objective indicators of levels of alertness. The one-line takeaway of this research was that “Excessive use of Gadgets and Screen time leads to poor quality of sleep in University students which has negative consequences for their academics and overall health.  

Other Achievements

Apart from this, Ishan has also participated in various scientific events like Vidyarthi Vigyan Manthan (VVM) by Vijnana Bharti and Vigyan Prasar, DST, Government of India, Mimamsa by IISER Pune, Neuromatch Academy (NMA), Developing Indian Physician Scientists (DIPS) Workshop by DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance. He has also presented research work in various national and international conferences like IFCPC, ICBMT, SOHO, ESH Conference on Lymphoid Malignancies, CYTOCON, NALCCON."

Ishan Gupta is a finalist for the Student Ambassador (Popular Choice) Award Because…when the world was worried about the pandemic, Ishan chose to be part of the solution and conducted extensive research on different topics related to COVID-19 and thereby aiding policymakers and healthcare workers to take right and timely decisions.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Ishan Gupta Click Here.

Women’s empowerment can be defined as promoting women’s sense of self-worth, their ability to determine their own choices, and their right to influence social change for themselves. India’s journey towards women empowerment has had its share of highs and lows. While on one hand, India has ratified several international conventions and formulated domestic policies intended to end gender inequality, on the other hand, women continue to suffer under the highly patriarchal social order. Taken aback by this dichotomy, Pranjul Tyagi launched the BHARAT_GIRLUP Initiative to Empower Women and Promote Gender Equality.

Empowering Women To Lead the World - BHARAT_GIRLUP Initiative

By standing up for equality, women have helped other women speak up and empowered them. Pranjul is trying to do the same with her initiative. During the Lockdown, she and Mudit Pathak jointly started the BHARAT_GIRLUP initiative under UNITED NATIONS FOUNDATION to empower women. During the initial phases, Pranjul and Mudit were working on the initiative single-handedly but inspired by their work, others also decided to join them, volunteering for women empowerment.

Today, with a team of 100 members, the BHARAT_GIRLUP initiative is one of the biggest student-driven initiatives for women empowerment and gender equality. The volunteers include members from several colleges and schools from in and around Delhi – NCR region. Pranjul with her team is constantly striving to help women break several myths and social barriers that stop them from achieving their full potential.

Activities and Initiatives by BHARAT_GIRLUP

Through BHARAT_GIRLUP, Pranjul has organized various events for the youngsters, talk shows, seminars, sessions, and workshops to spread women empowerment and equality. She has organized various campaigns through social media towards women empowerment and has collaborated with 500+ events to spread their vision nationally. In addition to women, she and her team with the help of social media are also working towards the upliftment of the LGBTQ community.

In the future, she plans to work towards building an ecosystem where equality is encouraged and girls are given basic and equal rights, freedom of expression and where humanity is at the top. She is also planning to develop an app through which she can bring out more women changemakers from the nation and tell their stories to the world.

Impact of BHARAT_GIRLUP Initiative

It has been more than a year since BHARAT_GIRLUP was launched and it has become popular among youngsters and college-goers. She has organized workshops to help women come out and speak for their rights, to talk about periods, menstrual hygiene and other issues related to sexual awareness. She has also put in a lot of effort to sensitize students about equality and its importance for society, especially for the youth, who want to be part of a progressive and egalitarian society. BHARAT_GIRLUP has even been part of many fundraisers to support the cause. She along with her team has counselled and guided many girls towards empowering them and helped many small-scale women and entrepreneurs by guiding them.

Pranjul Tyagi is a finalist for Most Socially-Relevant Initiative Because… she is empowering women and inspiring young girls to come up and speak about and demand their rights in a patriarchal society. Through her efforts, Pranjul is trying to help women reach their full potential without fear or discrimination.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Pranjul Tyagi Click Here.

India is a country of dichotomy, where the biggest schools are also surrounded by slums and poor neighbourhoods from where kids can’t even afford to get a basic education. This divide between India and Bharat is what inspired Pranit – a 7-year student to take up online tutoring for slum kids. What started as a one-time activity has transformed into a regular practice wherein Pranit tutors over 30 kids from less fortunate economic backgrounds through virtual classes.

His Journey

The idea of holding online classes for underprivileged students came to Pranit thanks to his father.  One day Kamal Dharewa (his father) shared about his life journey and how he used to take tuitions during his college years. While this was a general conversation, Pranit got inspired by his father and kept telling his parents that he too wanted to teach other kids and help them.  Pranit presently teaches more than 30 kids. He is working towards his goal of forming a chain of 1000 volunteers like him so this initiative becomes a movement where children become a changemaker, irrespective of their age.

Online Classes for Less Fortunate Kids

Pranit teaches more than 30 children, for an hour every day, five days a week. Every night on weekdays, Pranit and his mother get together and compile a PowerPoint presentation for the next day’s class. He covers subjects like English Grammar, Maths, EVS, and GK, through Google meet. Pranit already has an understanding of how online teaching works because he had been studying digitally for a year now.

Impact

The work being done by Pranit is already bearing fruit as the kids learning from him have become more confident and their ability to understand concepts and share their learnings has also enhanced. Pranit’s online classes have also helped ignite a much-needed spark and liking towards academics and studies. 

Through his mission called "Padhao India", Pranit is on a mission to create a chain of 1000 volunteers who can teach at least one less fortunate child around them. He is looking forward to spreading this initiative across India and having more than 10000 volunteers by next year.

Click Here to Watch TV News Coverage on Pranit

Pranit Dharewa is a finalist for Most Socially-Relevant Initiative Because...at an age when most kids don’t even realize the importance of education for themselves, Pranit is helping kids from slum areas to get educated and is inspiring them to convince others to join them.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Pranit Dharewa Click Here.

While we were all battling COVID-19 on the outside, many others were fighting a much silent but virulent battle within themselves. COVID-19 induced lockdown surely threatened our physical health and wellbeing, but at the same time, it also put a lot of mental stress on all of us. Be it because of financial and economic challenges or just because of the mere fact of being confined to the four walls of our houses. During the latter half of the pandemic, Mental Health emerged as an equally important challenge as the Physical one. But one of the biggest challenges when it comes to Mental Health in India is the stigma. Even in the 21^st Century, most of us don’t understand or acknowledge Mental Health as a concern.

Understanding the challenge posed by mental health and its impact among teenagers and youngsters; Mansi Rai – a Class 12 student from DPS Gautam Buddh Nagar decided to destigmatize mental illness. She launched "Teens Together Foundation” a group that works for raising awareness around mental health issues. They highlight and share the challenges and concerns of youngsters and spread awareness about them.

Her Inspiration

Typically, you don’t expect teenagers to give much attention to Mental Health, let alone launch an organization to spread awareness about it. But for Mansi, the inspiration to launch "Teens Together Foundation” came from her own personal battle with depression. Talking about why she felt that Mental Health needed attention, she says “My journey with mental health issues such as depression/self-harm tendencies and how I got through it led me to start my own Youth Organization for raising mental health awareness to help people see it in a new light and understand the varied spectrum of mental health and mental illnesses.”

She further adds that for most youngsters, fighting depression and anxiety is a silent battle about which they can’t talk to anyone. Learning from her battle and journey, she decided to encourage others to speak up and seek help if needed, and learn how to cope with mental health issues in a healthy manner.

Initiatives and Outcome

Online Platforms for Mental Health Awareness: As part of Teens Together Foundation, Mansi has set up a blog, providing online resources such as webinars with professionals and organizations like Rotary International, speaking at events like Manthan - Nation-wide Educators’ Dialogue, starting an online peer support community and campaign on Instagram to spread mental awareness.

Click Here to Visit Teens Together Foundation Website

Speak UP: Mansi believes that the stigma around mental health can be reduced only if we decide to SPEAK UP and support others. To help others garner the courage to speak up and share their stories of struggles and victories, she launched the Speak UP initiative as part of the Teens Together Foundation. Students who are suffering from mental health issues and do not have anyone to speak to can share their stories with her via mail or Instagram DMs. Their story is then shared online to help them find an outlet while also helping others to learn from it.

Teens Together School Clubs: Mansi along with a team of experts helps schools set up Teens Togetherclub, where students can come together to share their concerns around mental health. These clubs also regularly organize on-campus awareness activities, live sessions, peer support groups, regular mental health check-ins, Mental Health Day, informative and engaging webinars and discussions, and others to help spread awareness among students about mental health challenges and how to deal with them. She and her team set up various student-run Teens Together clubs in schools in Delhi and Noida such as DPS GBN, BGSIPS, and are in talks with several other schools.

Volunteer Programs: The group also has launched volunteer programmes aimed at developing a conducive environment in schools and colleges to initiate a discussion on Mental Health. The volunteers use their skills in writing, speaking, designing, and preparing awareness material to contribute to the cause of mental health awareness.

Authored Book on Duality of Human Nature

She recently achieved her life-long dream and published a book named - Toffee and Coffee. The hard copy and e-book are available on platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, Barnes & Noble, etc. The book is framed in a way to design contrast between the duality of human nature and tell others that while negative emotions are prevalent in our lives, positive emotions are present too. 

Click Here to Find Link Mansi’s Book - Toffee And Coffee

Mansi Rai is a finalist for Most Socially Relevant Initiative Award Because… Starting an organization from scratch, especially during the pandemic as an 11th grader, takes a lot of grit and determination. Ultimately, what makes the initiative stand out is the fact that it is for teenagers, by teenagers. Her foundation has impacted thousands of lives. Mansi strongly believes that it is only by standing together, and helping each other that we can take a step towards destigmatizing mental health.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Mansi Rai Click Here.

“Imagine being an acclaimed author writing on art and history at the young age of 16,” tweeted Prime Minister Modi while wishing a bright future to his young friend, Souhardya De.

While many aspire to be authors, few have the patience and perseverance it takes to become one. Souhardya belongs to the latter category. From being an author of historical fiction to an art and culture columnist, a podcaster and the youngest ever elected Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Souhardya has added numerous feathers in his cap.

His Journey

Souhardya began his writing journey at the young age of thirteen with the intention of publishing his journals in the shape of a book. However, he was moved by the declining prominence of classical literature, heritage architecture and theology-centred sociological studies among the youth of today. This is what inspired him to dwell in exploring literary arts and to revive and revitalise them through the medium of literature.

Published Works on Art and History

His first book was published in 2017 under the title “The Scion of Suryavansh”. The book is a translation of the classical epic ‘The Ramayana’ in a poetic format. Two years later, “The Chronicles of Suryavansh”, a sequel to his first book, was published. The book was awarded by the India Book of Records 2020 since it is the first-ever English work to be authored on Ramayana in a dramatic format. 

In 2021, he closed a deal with Rupa Publications, on a work of historical fiction that is centred around the Battle of Malwa fought between Akbar’s foster brother Adham Khan and the poetic Sultan Baz Bahadur in 1561. The book is scheduled to be published in the last quarter of 2022.

Souhardya has also been shortlisted among the 75 authors under the Prime Minister’s YUVA Mentorship Scheme, under the aegis of the Ministry of Education, Government of India. Being a Prime Ministerial YUVA Fellow, he is tasked to author a book on the unsung heroes of Indian Independence. The book which is expected to be out by August 2022 is centred around the role of the unsung Pratap Jung contingent in the Mutiny of 1857 at Lucknow.

Besides authoring the aforementioned books, Souhardya has also undertaken research projects. So far, he has published a psychological analysis of the ‘Dying Princess’ painting at Ajanta, an analysis of the chronicles of the Graeco-Roman traveller and ambassador Megasthenes, a historical detailing of the classical city of Nysa near Kabul in Afghanistan, among others. He is currently working on two projects-- the ‘evolutionary naturalistic’ analysis in the societal organisation of the Aryans and the Egyptians and the theological analysis of Jayadeva’s famous classical work, Gita Govinda.

His works have also been published in several national dailies including the Sunday Guardian, the Statesman, the South China Morning Post, the Times of India, and Thrive Global.

Author Yuri Galbinst, in his recent publication titled “Storia del buddismo in Myanmar: Dal Mahayana al greco-buddismo”, cited his column and quoted his definition of the essence of Gandhara School of Art in a section in his book.

Click Here to Reach Author Yuri Galbinst’s Book “Storia del buddismo in Myanmar: Dal Mahayana al greco-buddismo”

Awards and Accolades

In 2021, President Ram Nath Kovind conferred upon him the highest civilian honour for Indians under 18, Bal Puraskar, for his contributions to Indian art and culture.  The same year, his article on Indian diplomatic efforts during the ‘Vande Bharat’ mission in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic won him the Gold Award in the Royal Commonwealth Society of the United Kingdom.

Furthermore, for his contributions to the revitalisation of Indian heritage amongst the diaspora abroad, through digital videos and online TED talks, he was presented with an honorary Colonelcy of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, by US Governor Andy Beshear.

Click Here to Watch Media Coverage for Souhardya De’s Work

Cosmographia – A Podcast on Ancient Tales

In a bid to popularise mythology and promote cultural integration between civilisations, Souhardya launched a podcast under the title, “Cosmographia: the Graeco-Romans, the Egyptians and Us”. The podcast is available on all major worldwide distribution platforms, including Gaana, JioSaavn, Amazon Audible, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and so forth. Since the podcast was received well by the listeners, Souhardya is planning to launch season 2 of Cosmographia. The second season focuses on narrating the first-ever English translation of Kalidasa’sAbhijnanaShakuntalam entitled ‘Sakoontala’ (a translation by Sir MonierMonier-Williams, late Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford).

Click Here to Listen to Souhardya’s Podcast

Born Free – An Anti-bullying Initiative

Souhardya, along with others, co-founded Born Free, an anti-bullying initiative for teens. It is a networking place where the power of creativity (literary and artistic creativity) and social media comes into play to spread the word about bullying and mental health destigmatisation, in an attempt to create a positive change through policymakers and parliamentarians.

The initiative which is in the formative stages has a social media presence on Instagram. The team is willing to take the initiative on a larger scale under the yet to open NGO, Halfway Through. The NGO is expected to be up and running by June 2022.

Souhardya is a finalist for Most Promising Literary Talent because… his writings on history and art have aroused the interest of the youth of today in ancient cultural studies. Souhardya, at a very young age, has added several feathers in his cap and is determined to continue authoring books and columns, along with hosting podcasts, to bridge the gap between the ancient and the present era.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Souhardya De Click Here.

“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it,” said Toni Morrison, one of the most powerful and distinguished writers of our times. Taking inspiration from the aforementioned quote, Divyansha started her writing journey. Her first book is published under the title ‘Elements’ and is available on Amazon.

Her Journey

Being a published author is an achievement that you can associate with someone who has at least completed his schooling, but Divyansha achieved this while being a Class 9 student. Being a bibliophage, Divyansha read myriad fantasy books but never come across a book with two strong female protagonists working together. This urged her to write a fantasy fiction titled Elements: The Lost Medallion. Being a major fan of JK Rowling, Divyansha decided to develop her first book along the lines of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson.

The Plot

The plot of Elements: The Lost Medallion is centred around two 11-year-olds Eclipse and Eliana. The story revolves around both the protagonists living a normal life under the eyes of their protectors, oblivious of their true identity. But, when Eclipse stumbles upon a mysterious letter, things start taking unexpected turns. She starts receiving ominous warnings and cryptic messages from a voice in her head. The voice asks for her help to prevent the impending doomsday. Thereon, the book takes the reader on a journey to discover what this doomsday is. Her book- Elements: The Lost Medallion, is currently available on Amazon India as a Kindle edition.

Click Here to View Divyansha’s Book Elements

Divyansha’s remarkable achievement at this age speaks about her purpose and passion, dedication, and hard work. Her success is definitely an inspiration to her fellow students who will love to buy and read the book and may even motivate some to put pen to paper and bring their imagination alive.

Divyansha Kirola is a finalist for Most Promising Literary Talent because… at the young age of fourteen, she has visualized a book series on fantasy fiction, along with maintaining an original plot and storyline. She plans to continue writing other books in the series, keeping the female protagonists in the forefront.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Divyansha Kirola Click Here.

The COVID-induced lockdown brought both struggles and silver linings. The sudden transformation adversely impacted the world, but some of us channelized our energies to bring out our hidden talents.

Aamir P, a final year engineering student, is one such student who looked at the brighter side and utilized his writing skills constructively. He began his writing journey with “Useful Articles and Thoughts”, his first published title available on Amazon. So far, he has published 13 books and is working on others. 

His writing Journey

At the young age of eight when most children are on the blurry lines of middle childhood, Aamir identified his passion for writing. Every time he felt unhappy or low, he journalled his feelings, and over the years, pen and paper became his best friends.

Click Here to Reach Aamir P’s GoodReads Profile

His first title

It wasn’t until 2020 that Aamir thought of penning a book. He published his very first book through Amazon during the lockdown. The book titled “Useful Articles and Thoughts” claims to make you think and provides free advice to individuals of all ages. It was received well by the audience and this motivated Aamir to write more.

Click Here to Check out Books Authored by Aamir P

His Achievements

Over the course of two years, Aamir has written 13 books in all. While his first two books offered valuable advice to people of all ages, the others are children’s books. With a belief that values inculcated at an early age shape each individual’s lifelong development, Aamir started writing short stories with deep morals. 

Creative use of social media

Apart from writing thoughtful books, Aamir has very creatively used his social media account. While people of his age share memes, Aamir posts wise words to provide people with a positive feed on LinkedIn. His optimism and positive outlook towards situations have inspired many on social media where people appreciate his writings and thoughts.

Aamir is a finalist for Most Promising Literary Talent because… at a young age, he has been able to maturely reflect on life and share optimism and life lessons that younger generations can relate to. His social media posts and the engagement that they generate are a mute testimony of the positivity he spreads through his written words.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Aamir P Click Here.

With digital videos continuing to gain popularity, Vinay Kumar Maurya, a class 12th student started his own YouTube channel - Technology World Education Channel to educate students. Harnessing the power of the forum-based format of the YouTube Comments Section, Vinay used YouTube to not only publish videos but also to interact and solve any doubts and queries of his audiences. Currently, he posts educational videos for class 9th and 10th students. This also helps Vinay in his own preparation and revision of concepts for upcoming exams.

Technology World Education - YouTube Channel

There are many who cannot avail of the benefits of education due to financial issues. However, we live in a digital world and Vinay decided to posts videos and help underprivileged students. He clears the concepts for the students to understand the topics easily. With his lectures, the students get complete knowledge about the same. He is also a student hence this knowledge sharing also helps him to prepare for his exams.

Click Here to Reach Vinay Kumar’s YouTube Channel

Recently, he started offering various courses in offline as well as online mode, free of cost. At the age of 17, he has worked with his team members and provided a better learning place for students. With this, more than 200 students watch his videos and get knowledge free of cost. Inspired by his efforts, a group of 5 to 6 people also joined him and helped him promote his website as an educational platform

Achievements

He has received a certificate for teaching Mathematics in an entertaining and simple way to reduce the fear of Mathematics.

He has also received a certificate in the field of science as a State Junior Scientist.

Vinay Kumar Maurya is a finalist for Most Creative Use of Social Media Because... while the majority use Social Media Platforms, especially YouTube for entertainment, Vinay used it to create a knowledge resource for students from underprivileged backgrounds. He also harnessed the power of social media to connect, interact and provide quick information and solutions to their questions and doubts.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Vinay Kumar Maurya Click Here.

Like 2020, the year 2021 also saw students being confined to the safety of the 4 walls of their house. With plenty of time on hand and access to digital platforms available easily, many youngsters started using Social Media for entertainment purposes. But Prateek Rout – a Class 10 student from Apeejay SchoolPanchsheel Park-New Delhi thought of much more constructive use of social media, i.e., to spread awareness among his friends, peers, and society in general. Prateek extensively used YouTube to produce and publish a series of awareness videos on challenges and topics that are of interest to young audiences.

Infinite Knowledge Hub YouTube Channel

In 2021, he launched his YouTube channel, Prateek's Infinite Knowledge Hub, to address the problems that affect students and youngsters. Prateek produced and published a series of videos on a variety of critical issues and topics such as Cyber Security, Vaccine Awareness, Sustainable Development Goals, and Wellbeing. In addition to this, he also collaborated with other creators of his age and posted videos on special occasions and days such as Kargil Vijay Diwas, National Police Day, and so forth. His YouTube channel currently has 130 subscribers and more than 6000 views.

Click Here to Reach Prateek’s YouTube Channel

Other Achievements

Following the power of video through YouTube, he also decided to venture into audio production to reach a larger audience. To do so, he has also hosted a podcast show on peace and harmony that discussed the status of world peace, and a webinar on cyber security to help people protect their crucial information from unauthorized access.

Prateek Rout is a finalist for Most Creative Use of Social Media because…when everything went digital during the lockdown, Prateek realized the power of social media and word-of-mouth advocacy to influence and educate a large number of people.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Prateek Rout Click Here.

Much before Shark Tank India – the TV reality show based on pitching startup ideas by budding entrepreneurs– captured the popular imagination, Dipti Vrijesh Pandey embarked on her entrepreneurship journey and launched ‘3d_fashionista’ – an online shopping boutique during the COVID-induced lockdown. With this start-up, she not only established a growing business for herself but in the process also generated employment opportunities for others.

Her Achievements

When the nationwide curfew was imposed in March 2020, Dipti, along with her sisters, co-founded an online shopping boutique facilitating people to shop from the comfort of their homes with free deliveries. The sisters agreed to pool their savings to raise capital for their boutique. During her two years of the entrepreneurial journey, Dipti has provided employment opportunities to college-going students, ex-MNC employees, and housewives.

The success story of her start-up has been primarily built on the back of digital resources and social media. When the country went into lockdown, Dipti along with her sisters used social media to target the young and fashion-conscious audience. The sisters promoted their fashion products including bridal lehengas, festive clothing, and other fashion items and accessories on social media platforms, primarily on Instagram and YouTube. To ensure that her customers didn’t have to step out of the safety of their homes during the lockdown, Dipti offered free shipping on all her products to the customers. The online shop performed well and has been seeing increasing sales month-on-month.

Other Achievements

Apart from her entrepreneurial ambitions, Dipti also has other talents and ambitions. On the technical side, Dipti has been working on special AI-based software that can perform Sentiment Analysis of Real-time tweets (which can help us to identify whether a particular tweet contains hate speech or not). The idea struck her when she was using Grammarly, Inc., a software company that uses AI to identify errors and suggest their replacements in text or sentences.

In addition to this, she is also working on a career guidance project. The platform plans to rope in experts from varied fields to help students choose the right career path. Being an environmentally responsible citizen, Dipti also did her bit to save the planet. In keeping with the practices recommended under sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Dipti celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi in an eco-friendly manner. The idol of Ganesha was made with soil and the pandal was decorated with reusable household props and biscuit wrappers.

Dipti Vrijesh Pandey is a finalist for Most Creative Use of Social Media because… during the COVID-induced lockdown, when most people lost their jobs, she provided employment opportunities through her online fashion start-up shop and used social media in constructive ways.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Dipti Vrijesh Pandey Click Here.

COVID-19 truly exposed the gaps that exist in India’s healthcare system, especially in rural and economically backward areas. Be it the unavailability of hospital beds, adequately trained medical personnel, or simple basic medicines to counter regular diseases, India’s healthcare system is crippled with several challenges and problems. Looking at these, unlike many others who lose hope, Nehal – a 16-year-old innovator, decided to take matters into her own hands. She developed three key medical innovations that can support the healthcare sector in remote areas and provide quick, easy, and economical solutions to medical requirements.

Her Inspiration

Talking about her inspiration to work towards scientific solutions for India’s health problems, Nehal says that she feels late diagnosis is one of the biggest problems that plague India’s healthcare system and needs urgent attention. During COVID-19, due to the fear of contracting infections, people resisted visiting hospitals and laboratories to get tested, often delaying diagnosis and ultimately complicating their medical condition. To address this challenge, Nehal decided to develop three innovative medical devices, namely, a Self Blood Tester, Pneumo Free mask System, and CVMT technology – to help healthcare workers and people, in general, to look after their health better.

Self-Blood Tester

Blood Testing has become important and, in most cases, a primary aspect of health diagnostics. Keeping this in mind, Nehal developed a Self-Blood Tester Kit which can help anyone perform blood tests at home in a matter of a few minutes. The kit consists of a syringe, dropper, and a rectangular testing kit. The Self-Blood Test Kit developed by her is capable of performing the fastest and most accurate blood tests and diagnosis of 13 blood diseases including blood cancer. Being small in size and friendly to be used by people directly, Self Blood Tester Kit is a cost-effective solution as compared to expensive laboratory tests. The kit also consists of QR code technology to register and submit test results. Currently, the kit is in the production phase and she soon plans to expand its production further.

Click Here for Details about Self Blood Tester Kit

Pneumo Free mask System

Another innovation that was developed by Nehal was Pneumo Free mask System – a unique mask that helps in preventing Pneumonia among patients. The system consists of involves a mask, air purifier, lithium-ion battery pack, solar power, and silicon air pipe. The system offers three benefits /prime features, i.e., Streptococcus pneumonia (bacterial) protection, Oxygen supporter and acts as a Lung cleaner as well. Preliminary studies have proven that patients using this mask have only a 3% chance of developing pneumonia. The mask has been deemed safe to be used for children under 5 years as well. Currently, the system is in its prototype form.

CCMT Technology

Nehal has also worked upon and developed a Cardiovascular Movement Tresser Technology which can help in the early detection of Heart Attacks. The device includes a simple belt that is placed near the cardiac region of the patient and once activated, the detection rays check for positions of clots in blood vessels. The CCMT technology can also detect any clots that are still in their formative stages near the heart region. The CCMT device informs healthcare workers about the status of a patient’s condition through Red, Yellow, and Green Signals with the help of software.

The CCMT Device has great advantages for early diagnoses of heart attack, heart failure, and coronary artery disease. The device can track and notify changes that occur in the heart prior to an attack, including heartbeat range, abnormal heart sounds, etc. The technology developed by Nehal can prove to be a vital asset in early detection and diagnosis of abnormal heart conditions and in turn save a patient’s life.

Other Achievements

With all these innovations, she has participated in FOSS4Gov Innovation Challenge, MIT Solve Global Challenge, RISE Innovation challenge, and India International Science Festival. The results of these competitions are yet to be announced. She has also been featured in the India Book of Record and also received Maharashtra young innovation award, Junior scientist award, Youth Ideathon top award, VVM topper award.

Click Here to View Nehal’s Awards and Certificates

Nehal Joshi is a finalist for Best Use of Science and Technology Because…she used her interest in science to develop innovative solutions to the challenges being faced by India’s healthcare sector. Along with her scientific zeal, she has also helped improve the availability of healthcare facilities and services to fellow citizens through her work.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Nehal Joshi Click Here.

In life, you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, and a preacher once a week, but every day, three times a day, you need a farmer.

This beautiful line by Brenda Schoepp, Author and Inspirational Speaker sum up the importance of agriculture and farmers in our lives. After years of industrialization and globalization, India still largely remains an agrarian economy run by small and marginal farmers. Despite playing such an important role in nation-building, most farmers are often seen struggling for basic facilities, infrastructure, and machinery to aid them. The hardships and sufferings faced by farmers in India have surprised many youngsters and inspired them to work for them.

Ansh Mishra – a 3^rd Year Student at Sagar Institute of Science Technology & Research, Bhopal, was also moved by the plight of farmers and decided to extend a helping hand. At the young age of 20, Ansh founded Titan Tech – a Science & Tech Start-up which developed a Smart Mini-Tractor by Converting a Bike into a Line Digging Tractor. While it is still a prototype, the Smart Mini Tractor has the potential to revolutionize small area farming.  

Revolution in Techniques of Small Area Farming (less than 2 hectares area)

Ansh Mishra, co-founder of Titan Tech invented the Smart Mini Tractor by converting the bike into a line digging tractor. While researching small-scale farming techniques, Ansh realized that using large tractors on small farming lands was a difficult task for farmers. To address this concern, Ansh decided to use a bike instead of a tractor as it would save space, digging cost, and labour cost as well as the time is taken to til the land. The Smart Mini Tractor developed by Ansh and his team will help farmers who are involved in the cultivation of fruits and small crops. This revolutionary product will help the farmers in saving money and effort as compared to the traditional method of farming. This may play an important role in increasing the production of fruits and crops.

Features of Smart Mini Tractor

India is a country of farmers, and during the last two decades, shrinking land holdings coupled with the unavailability of agricultural technology and machinery have resulted in a low productivity rate. The Smart Mini Tractor or Bike Line Digger will help farmers do the same amount of work as tractors at less cost with less labour, and more importantly, in less amount of time.

Mechanical Design

Talking about the working of this mechanical design of the Mini Tractor, Ansh has transformed the rear part of the bike by removing the rear axle and fixing the line digger with the help of two supporting wheels. The line digger is attached to the rear portion of the bike, the wheeling system, i.e., the chain is arranged for newly adopted wheels. The lifting up and down of the line is done by the lever system which helps to lift up and down the line digger.

The Smart Mini Tractor will not only make the farmers’ work easy but will also consume less fuel which will also increase productivity. Smart Mini Tractor has a safety- seat belt mounted cousins and side mirror. The Smart Mini Tractor is also equipped with comfort- bike seat modified for agricultural use, radio, and sound system. It also has cabins, wipers, night cameras, and DRL.

Smart Mini Tractor - Click Here for Complete Presentation

Ansh Mishra is a finalist for Best Use of Science & Technology Because…his Smart Mini Tractor or the Bike Line Digger, has the potential to help small-scale farmers involved in the cultivation of fruits and vegetables. The Smart Mini Tractor can be used in small landholdings and is equally effective as large tractors in ensuring maximum agricultural yield. Backed by the novel invention, His start-up Titan Tech has found a place among the Top-10 startups during the Innonext Challenge 2.0 in Bhopal.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Ansh Mishra Click Here.

In early 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out of Wuhan, the world had very limited knowledge about it; be it how infectious it was or how it can be contained. The lack of information around the COVID-19 virus was so severe that the WHO – World Health Organization also said that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmissions. But, later on, it was found to be one of the most infectious viruses that humankind has ever encountered; leading to millions of infections and deaths. Since then the world has come a long way with vaccines and even preventive measures being identified and implemented across the world.

When scientists were busy finding out ways to counter the COVID-19 virus; Anjali Khokhar – a 3rd Year BSc Medical Student at KVA DAV College For Women, Karnal, Haryana, also decided to clip in with a unique research project. Anjali started working on Tacet Interfectorem – a fake virus that was structurally very similar to COVID-19 and induced similar symptoms upon infection. As part of her research, she studied the fake-virus model and found out ways to contain its spread through innovative techniques.

Project - Treatment of Tacet Interfectorem

‘Tacet Interfectorem’ – the fake virus, which Anjali was working on, had similar symptoms to COVID-19 in patients but with severe complications, devastating and more infectious than COVID-19. As part of the project, she researched and found out all the possible solutions to treat this viral pandemic.

To contain the spread of the virus, she tried various innovative techniques and used solutions from Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurvedic, Nanomedicine, Biotechnological techniques, stem cell therapy, etc. along with public health solutions. Being a fake virus, she constructed the ‘Tacet Interfectorem’ in digital structure and continued her search using research papers based on different health policies and guidelines prescribed by authorities.

During the latter half of the project, she got an opportunity to be involved in the process of suggesting the potential solutions just like an epidemiologist. This project was done as a selected participant of International Future M.D.s+ 2021 organized by Medstempowered which is a 501(c) 3 Medical nonprofit organization. It was presented at a research symposium.

Tacet Interfectorem - Click Here for Presentation on Preventive Measures and Solutions

Key Findings of the Tacet Interfectorem Project

As part of the project, it was decided to pair up solutions from different medicines like TCM, Ayurvedic, Allopathic, etc. The key findings of the Tacet Interfectorem project are -

• Saliva-based biosensors and blood tests can be the most promising method of detecting the infection.
• Hyperbaric oxygen treatment and Botulinum toxin injections can be a better solution to treat impaired limb function.
• For the treatment of loss of senses, one can go for olfactory psychophysical assessment, stem cell therapy, and physical therapy.
• Platinum-based chemotherapy, traditional Chinese, DNA repair pathways, Targeted Angiogenesis, and Targeted therapy are the best options to treat cancer that developed due to viral infection.
• Also, monoclonal antibody therapy can be a really good method to control viral infection as in this therapy the antibodies directly target the spike protein and inhibit its binding with cellular receptor thereby preventing the entry into the cell.

Conclusions are drawn: One should consider all symptoms and medical history of the patient before treating any patient and try to suggest a combination of treatments instead of sticking to just one treatment method to get better results.

Click Here to Watch Anjali’s Research Symposium Video

Other Projects and Initiatives

Apart from this research project, Anjali also worked on a project titled 'Access to Adequate Healthcare in Rural Areas’ to gain insights into the lack of adequate healthcare in rural areas, reasons for hospital closures, which groups are primarily affected, what is currently being done to make the situation better and what one should do to get rural people full access to the healthcare system. She wishes that these projects help the general public more in various aspects.

Click Here for Presentation on 'Access to Adequate Healthcare in Rural Areas’ Project

Anjali is a finalist for Best Use of Science & Technology Because…when the biggest brains across the globe were researching the COVID-19 virus, she worked on a project and identified innovative techniques to contain the spread of the virus which was fake but structurally very similar to Coronavirus. Her research helped healthcare workers and STEM professionals to guide people on best practices to contain the spread of viral infections.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Anjali Click Here.

“Earth is our mother, we belong to her but she belongs not only to us, we consider that we have inherited this earth from our forefathers, indeed we have, but at the same time we have borrowed it from our future generations.”

The aforementioned line by, Lester Russel Brown - a United States environmental analyst, founder of the Worldwatch Institute, best describes what our responsibilities are towards Mother Earth. But while we still struggle to comprehend the impact of climate change and other environmental catastrophes that we have created for ourselves; there is still some hope from our future generations.

Anaswara Ramesh - a Class 9 Student from Bhavans Adarsha Vidyalaya, Kakkanad, belongs to this new generation of environmentalists who believe in doing rather than preaching. This 14-year-old used technology to address one of the major challenges that our modern societies face, i.e., Waste Management. She has developed Recycle App, a tool that helps streamline waste management and brings her one step closer to the dream of creating cleaner earth.

Her Inspiration

When most teenagers are busy scrolling through reels and Twitter, for Anaswara to dream of clean and green earth and develop a solution for Waste Management; a problem that even global leaders have failed to address properly seems like a stretch. But she shares that the idea of Recycle App came to her when she was out for a walk with her father. During their walk, she saw a woman dumping waste into land owned by her neighbour. This left her disgusted and disappointed at the same time. It was from then that she decided to take up the mission of helping her neighbourhood Recycle and manage waste well.

Backed by her zeal of seeing a cleaner Earth and resolve to change the current status quo, she took to researching waste management and how the current system can be improved upon. She decided to take the help of technology to resolve this problem and this materialized into Recycle App - a systematic, effective, unique, and consistent waste disposal mechanism giving back a cleaner Earth.

Managing Waste through Technology

The central premise of Recycle App is to streamline waste management through technology. The app offers a spectrum of services that can be availed by anyone, anywhere, and anytime. The app essentially connects households with recycling agents and vendors who can come to their doorstep at a prescribed date and time to pick up garbage. The app provides agents’ as well as collection agency driver’s details to the households, in case they need any urgent help or assistance.

Recycle App – Check Video on How the App Helps People Manage Waste

Recycle app also spreads awareness about waste segregation into recyclable, biodegradable, and household waste. The app prescribes the use of red, blue, and green dustbins for the segregation of garbage and maximization of recyclable waste materials. The app also features feedback, inquiry, and complaints features, using which people can raise their concerns about the collection of garbage in their respective neighbourhoods.

Her Achievements

Recycle App is one of the many feathers that Anaswara has gathered over the years. Backed by her zeal for innovation, hard work, and perseverance, she has also won several awards and accolades from independent organizations.

• Winner - “Tech Tattva” National Level Science Exhibition of MIT (Manipal Institute of Technology) for her Project Energy Ball
• Winner 1^st Prize - the “Einstein Story” competition by the Indian Association of Physics Teachers
• Won National Anveshika Network of India from Padma Shree H C Verma for her work “The Big Brain Beneath The Silver Carpet”
• Winner 1^st Place - Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL FEST) yearly science exhibition competition for Vertical Axis Wind Turbine with Omnidirectional Guide Vane (VAWM)
• “Top 10” in the Rural Science Junior Research competition for her work in DNA EXTRACTION from IISC (Indian Institute of Science).

Anaswara Ramesh is a finalist for Best Use of Science & Technology Because…she used her interest in science and technology to solve a significant environmental challenge of waste management. Her app shows how technology is used in the right manner can solve our day-to-day problems.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Anaswara Ramesh Click Here.

Soon after the imposition of lockdown, one of Saurabh Nanda’s ex-students informed him about his need for counselling and help. He was homosexual and his parents were not supportive of his choice. The father also organized many 'yagnas' for taking away his son's gayness. This shook Saurabh to the core. He had never felt so helpless in life. Also, with the cases of domestic abuse and cyber-bullying on the rise during the lockdown, he took it upon himself to take matters into his own hands and help youngsters suffering from mental health problems.

To build a society where everyone can get the support that they need, Saurabh Nanda started a podcast - Such Conversations Matter to spread mental health awareness. To raise awareness about mental health concerns and reduce the stigma associated with mental illness he also conducted various webinars on Cyber Bullying, Cyber Security.

Click Here to Listen to Saurabh’s Podcast

Podcast and Webinars

During the 2^nd wave of the pandemic, he invited Dr. Arti Anand, a clinical psychologist from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, and published 3 episodes discussing depression during the lockdown, cyberbullying, patriarchy, and domestic abuse. In the second season of Such Conversations Matter, he invited Pallavi Khanna, a psychologist who has worked with high school and UG students including NIT Jalandhar for 10+ years.

Since the initial days of lockdown, he has taken more than 100 webinars on Cyber Bullying, Cyber Security, and using Social Media for high schools all over Delhi-NCR and Pilani, Meerut, Jalandhar, Sanawar, and international schools in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, addressing over 4000 students, teachers, and parents. He is also planning to conduct different activities in Jalandhar and Punjab related to Mental Health in 2022. These activities would be in association with local and international organizations based out of Europe and Japan.

Click Here to Reach Saurabh’s YouTube Channel

Achievements

He has written an article on Cyber-Bullying which was published at JagranJosh.com and it was used as the primary resource by Media studies students studying at Indraprastha College for Women in DU. In June 2021, he was invited by Punjab Police and Sage Advice to Speak on the "Young & Restless: A Look into Today’s Youth Issues" webinar where he highlighted the need for role models and mentorship for Punjab's lost youngsters.

In association with Pratham Test Prep, he organized and moderated the Principal Round Table and in episode 2, he moderated the discussion on "Cyber Etiquette for the New Generation" with principals from Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata. He was also a part of many students led movements campaigns on Instagram. Also, he has done a series of Insta Lives around Mental Health and Careers with psychotherapist PallaveePurie called "the Feeling Iceberg"

Click Here to Reach SN Mentoring - Saurabh’s Official Website

Saurabh Nanda is a finalist for Best Initiative (For Mental Health Awareness) Because...he has made ensuring the mental well-being of students his life’s mission. Using digital tools and platforms, Saurabh reached out to youth helping spread awareness about mental health. His work has impacted over 17000+ students and young professionals in the last decade.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Saurabh Nanda Click Here.

After working as a special educator at various special schools in the national capital, Ms. Arora started her own venture, Upasana Special School, to provide individuals with special education, therapies, and vocational training. The school has a sheltered workshop where children make snacks, handicrafts, and decorative items. 

Over the last few years, the school has provided high-quality hearing aids to hearing-impaired children with the help of several MNCs and has been able to place a few hearing-impaired children in the Hotel Industries in various departments like the F & B, and housekeeping. 

Click Here to Know More About Upasana Special School

A special child from the school has even represented India in the 2017 Winter Special Olympics held in Austria, and Delhi State in the Inter-State Sports Events. Many of them have also cleared their class 10 and class 12 exams through NIOS.

Dealing with the pandemic

In order to take care of the special needs children during the COVID-induced lockdown, the school started online classes on April 1. Special educators sent worksheets daily to the guardians through WhatsApp which they had to send back to the concerned educators by the end of the day. 

Click Here to Watch a Video on Upasana Special School

Parents were instructed through video conferences about how to take care of their children, and get the work done. They were also requested to send video recordings of their children doing the activities to help the school authorities monitor, and check if the activities are carried out in the right way. 

However, many families didn't have access to computers or smartphones. For such parents, the authorities distributed hard copies of the worksheets on a designated day and instructed their parents over telephonic calls. 

Click Here to Watch Video of Students from Upasana Special School

Education for the underprivileged

Many people have lost their jobs due to the ongoing pandemic and are finding it difficult to make ends meet, let alone education of their wards. Keeping this in view, Upasana Special School started a new project to educate underprivileged children. 

The classes began in October 2021, and 25 children between the ages of 3 to 5 have been taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, all in English. Extracurricular activities such as sports, dance, music, and solving puzzles have also been added to their curriculum. The children have been provided with free uniforms, stationery, and school bags. 

Other Achievements

During the testing times, the school has distributed rations to parents of special needs children who were daily wage workers, auto drivers, hawkers, and were not able to get at least one square meal.  

The school even distributed snacks to bus drivers, BSF personnel, and over 500 migrant workers who were waiting for their turn to board the bus to go back to their native villages. The underprivileged students are also provided with mid-day meals daily. 

Ms. Shilpa Arora is a finalist of the Best Initiative (For Children with Special Needs [CWSN]) because... she is working for children with special needs. Moreover, she has launched an initiative to educate underprivileged children and provide them with mid-day meals daily. 

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Ms. Shilpa Arora Click Here.

There’s no denying that education plays a pivotal role not only in shaping an individual’s personality but also in bringing about positive social change. Keeping this in view, Mr. Nagnath Vibhute, a National ICT awardee teacher of Pune’s state-run school, took up numerous initiatives to encourage factory workers to send their children to school and increased the enrollment by 58.67%.

Learning with Alexa

To make the teaching-learning process interactive for students in rural areas, Mr. Vibhute developed a robot named Alexa. Launched by the then Maharashtra’s Minister of Education, Mr. Vinod Tawade, Alexa answers questions asked by the students in the English language using cloud-based information.

The AI-based robot at Jambhuldara’s Zila Parishad School has helped students in improving their spoken English, strengthening vocabulary, and boosting self-confidence.

‘Making of Drone’ Project

To improve attendance in the classroom, Mr. Vibhute has launched the ‘Making of Drone’ project with the students of class 6th and 7th. The students are given drone parts which they assemble with the help of PCB. 

Inspired by the aforementioned project, Raj Bhosale, a grade 7 student, developed a ‘Flying Agriculture Drone’. His project has been selected in the first stage by INSPIRE Awards – MANAK, executed by DST under the aegis of the Government of India. The second stage of the competition is yet to be conducted.

Student Task Force

Being an Ambassador of Teach Sustainable Development Cohort 4: 2020 (Teach SDGs), Mr. Vibhute established a task force of the students through Skype to spread awareness about water on World Water Day. More than 400 students from pan India were roped in the mission and were educated on the role that they can play in ensuring sustainable use of water. As part of this mission, students were provided with a 6-week action plan to ensure Sustainable use of Water.

Other Achievements

Under the ‘Beyond the Classroom’ project, he conducted a Skype session where the students of his school exchanged ideas on ‘International Peace’ with the students of the Pakistan-based Root International school.  

On the occasion of Maratha Raj Bhasha Din, the students of his school interacted with the Australian Marathi School based in Westmead, Australia.

Mr. Nagnath Vibhute is a finalist for Most Innovative Use of Science and Technology because… he introduced modern-day technologies to the underprivileged children for an interactive teaching-learning process and increased the enrollment in his school by over fifty percent. Furthermore, all the initiatives undertaken by him are self-funded.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Mr. Nagnath Vibhute Click Here.

The COVID-19 pandemic stirred concerns over viral transmission through banknotes. These arose in response to the growing fears that regularly handled objects may become a potential medium for the transmission of SARS-CoV-2.  To address these concerns and help contain the viral transmission, Mr. Gaurav Khurana, professor at JCD University, developed Currency Sanitizer Machine.

Currency Sanitizer Machine

Banknotes in India are prepared using Cotton Litton paper. They develop micro-organisms on their surfaces which can infect people in one or more ways. The pandemic worsened the fear. This urged Mr. Khurana to develop a Currency Sanitizer Machine to sanitize banknotes using both UV-C light and thermal effect.

The machine developed by Mr. Khurana is economical, portable, and is environment friendly. It can be used for sanitizing masks, pens, utensils, PPI kits, and more. In addition to killing SARS-CoV-2, the machine has the potential to kill other microorganisms responsible for communicable diseases such as Tuberculosis, Swine flu, Hepatitis B and C, HIV / STDs, and Influenza.

It is to be noted that in vitro experiment by researchers, 99.7% of SARS-COV-2 viral culture was killed after a 30-sec exposure to 222 nm UV-C irradiation and other harmful micro-organisms in up to 2 minutes. Coronavirus may need to be exposed to 50 Celsius for 20 minutes and 75 Celsius for 3 minutes to be killed.

Mr. Gaurav Khurana is a finalist for Most Innovative Use of Science and Technology because… the currency notes come in contact with people of all age groups and developing a machine that sanitizes them will help us take a step forward in our battle with the deadly pandemic. On a larger scale, the machine can also be used in sanitizing PPI kits.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Mr. Gaurav Khurana Click Here.

Science and Technology play an indispensable role in the progress and development of a nation as it accelerates economic growth, improves the quality of life, and brings about transformation in society. Realizing its significance in the modern contemporary world, Dr. Abhishek Choubey, professor at Sagar Institute of Science Technology & Research, Bhopal, undertook several scientific projects including suitcase bike, customized handicapped vehicle, and compressed air tricycle for making life easier for everyone.

Bike Ambulance

The idea to develop a bike ambulance emerged from the intention to facilitate quick transfer of patients to hospitals, in villages as well as traffic-jammed and congested areas in cities. Dr. Choubey and his students developed a bike ambulance with key features including first aid, oxygen support, and GPS. In an emergency, the setup can be attached to the side of any bike, thereby converting it into a bike ambulance.  

Smart Mini Tractor

In its design phase currently, the smart mini tractor is a bike that can be converted into a line digging tractor. It is expected to significantly reduce the digging and labour cost, time, turning radius (in comparison to tractors), along with enhancing accessibility to smaller areas.

To convert a bike into a smart mini tractor, the rear axle will be removed to fix the line digger with the help of two wheels. The setup will be attached to the rear portion of the bike and the wheeling system will be arranged. The movement of the line digger will be controlled by a lever system.  The project is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Convertible Stretcher cum Wheel Chair

Mobility aids such as wheelchairs and stretchers are used for the transportation of patients. Many times, patients have to wait for their turn to access these, causing unnecessary delays in treatments. To resolve the issue, Dr. Abhishek Choubey and his students designed and fabricated a stretcher that can be converted to a wheelchair using a Z bar mechanism and vice-versa with the help of a button. The prototype of the model was developed and donated to Bhopal’s Red Cross Hospital.

Suitcase Bike 

With an ever-increasing surge in automobiles, and a limited landmass to drive and park, Dr. Abhishek Choubey and his students landed upon the idea of developing a foldable and portable vehicle. Hence, the development of a suitcase bike that can be folded in a suitcase, and doesn’t require parking space.

The three-wheeler can be assembled in less than ten minutes, powered by a battery, and is so compact that it can be used in shopping malls, industries, college campuses, and so forth. Additionally, it is environment friendly, cost-effective, lightweight, and can be folded into a suitcase if a person is stuck in traffic.

Customized handicapped vehicle

The differently-abled people face difficulties while driving wheelchairs from one place to another. To help such people, Dr. Choubey and the team modified an old TVS scooty which, as claimed, is safer and more powerful compared to the conventional vehicles available in the market. The customized vehicle has improved power and turning radius, along with reverse gear.

Compressed Air Tricycle

To help reduce the sufferings of the differently-abled people, Dr. Choubey and his team added a pneumatic and control system in the current hand-powered tricycle, facilitating freedom in travel to the community. The Compressed Air Tricycle is powered by compressed air, compact and lightweight, affordable, and requires less human effort.

Pneumatics is essentially a technique to convert electricity into mechanical motion using compressed gasses rather than motors or electromagnets. For many applications, it can be far more efficient and practical.

Dr. Abhishek Choubey is a finalist for Most Innovative Use of Science and Technology because… he has motivated his students to identify issues that prevail in society, and help them take up projects to find feasible solutions, thereby utilizing science and technology to make life easier for everyone.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Dr. Abhishek Choubey Click Here.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 250 million students were affected due to school/colleges closures and lockdown. While most of the world moved on to online classes, students from small towns and villages couldn’t find study material and classes in the language that they understand. This is what inspired Prof Prasant Kumar to use Social Media to share his knowledge and help students from poor and marginalized communities to continue their academic journey.

Teaching via YouTube Channel

To help reach a maximum number of students, Prasant chose YouTube as his preferred choice of Social Media Platform. YouTube provided a host of options including the facility to upload video lectures, hold live online sessions with an interactive comments window, and allows to save and store these lectures and live sessions, which can be referred by the students later on.

After starting, Prasant realized that for students, YouTube and Social Media, in general, were means of entertainment and they didn’t use them as much for online learning. Based on the comments and interactions with some students, he realized that it wasn’t the platform that was the problem but rather the students lacked emotional connection with their studies in the remote learning format. To address this, Prasant started to change the way he conducted online classes and brought an element of entertainment or fun to his sessions. This change proved to be a major hit with students as they started connecting with the online learning format and visiting his YouTube Channel for more educational content. Following the positive response, Prasant managed to cover the complete syllabus and made videos on all key contents and topics for 1^st year engineering students.

Click Here to Visit Prasant’s YouTube Channel

Assessments and Assignments via WhatsApp

Another challenge that Prasant faced after starting online classes for students was testing and assessment. In an online teaching-learning format, assessing how effectively students are able to imbibe the knowledge that you are sharing with them is a major challenge. Similarly, ensuring that the assignments and homework issued to them were being completed on time, was another major problem for him. To overcome this, he leveraged another Social Media Platform i.e., WhatsApp. The popular messaging tool was used by him to create students’ groups based on their classes and interests. He then started sharing assignments, project work, and study materials with them over WhatsApp Chats. On similar lines, students also started reaching out to him with their problems and doubts, which were resolved by him in real-time. He also use to hold regular 1-hour sessions with students for discussion and doubt clearance.

Prof Prasant Kumar is a finalist for Best Initiative (Using Social Media) because…he used social media to teach, train, and helped connect students emotionally with their studies and career paths. He also produced and provided quality educational content in the local language, using which students can continue their academic journey even amid the pandemic.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Prof Prasant Kumar Click Here.

Social Media has become an integral part of our lives, be it for individuals, corporates or the government. From entertainment to information, the power of social media was on display during the last two years of the pandemic when people were confined to their homes. Harnessing the power of social media, Vidhi Palsapure – a professor at Dayanand Science College, Latur in Maharashtra, decided to use it to help youngsters find career and job opportunities. Vidhi founded Mazha Career Guide, an online platform and community for the students and by the students where she provided the necessary career guidance and shared information and admission related updates and job openings.

Journey

Social Media is most commonly used for entertainment and networking, but taking a step ahead, Vidhi used it to build a community of students. Latur is a largely rural, drought-prone and economically ignored area of Maharashtra where facilities and options for career guidance are limited. Especially new and emerging fields in science, research and development such as biotechnology, bioinformatics, bioengineering etc, are virtually unknown to the poor and underprivileged students from this region. To address this problem, Vidhi decided to use social media to empower students and youngsters to build successful and bright careers.

Her journey started when she got an opportunity to do internships at the institutions like IIT BOMBAY and NCMR, Pune. At these institutes, she learnt about new and upcoming fields in the domain of science and decided to share this information with her friends and peers back in Latur as well. This is where the idea of the Mazha Career Guide took birth. To ensure that she was able to reach the largest possible audience, Vidhi decided to start a Facebook page called Mazha Career Guide – i.e., My Career Guide. On this page, she started sharing regular news and updates about New and Emerging Career Options and how students can build a successful career around them.

Mazha Career Guide for Students

What started as a Facebook Page soon transformed into something big and thus was born Mazha Career Guide Foundation. The foundation works as an online platform for the students and by the students, where they can share and get targeted information about career guidance and selection of the right career options and streams. The team at Mazha Career Guide Foundation is working to bridge the gap between the need and the interests of the career selection process. They are all aiming at uplifting the interests and passion for emerging career fields among the student community.

Click Here to Reach Mazha Career Guide Facebook Page

Click Here to Reach Mazha Career Guide Website

Activities and Initiatives By Mazha Career Guide

As part of the Mazha Career Guide, Vidhi is working to build educational awareness among students and provide a virtual career guidance tool that can also offer employment-related information. In addition to this, the Mazha Career Guide Foundation is also trying to focus on ensuring the holistic development of students of the region by holding virtual personality development seminars, communication skills workshops and soft skills training programmes. At Mazha Career Guide, Vidhi encourages the student community to choose customized careers, follow their passion and explore emerging opportunities. Recently, the foundation has also started one to one career counselling sessions, providing information related to internships and projects, connecting the students with the respective companies and providing them accurate and timely information about the same.

Impact of Mazha Career Guide

Mazha Career Guide has had a positive impact on the student community. The platform has provided youngsters with an avenue to get their career-related queries addressed. Students from rural backgrounds and girls are now gaining information about emerging fields like Microbiology, biotechnology, physics and relevant employments in this sector.

Vidhi is now focusing on developing Mazha Career Guide as a platform where career guidance and selection is student-centric, student-friendly and student-led. This also helps to ensure good mental health and keeps students away from anxiety and depression. Giving equal importance to all career options can also reduce the load from the conventional career courses and provide students with more options to choose from.

Click Here to Reach Mazha Career Guide YouTube Channel with Student Testimonials 

In future, Vidhi plans to connect dots from various areas of expertise, coordinating with governmental and non-governmental organizations, collaborating with similar NGOs, institutions, and civil society to upscale this process and the concept of customized career choices. She also plans to carry out career-related symposiums, programs, specific workshops and create a one-stop solution for the youth to come up, speak up which will help them in personality development by inculcating and encouraging oratory, drafting and other such activities to create future leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists etc.

Vidhi Subhash Palsapure is a finalist for Best Initiative (Using Social Media) Because... she was able to harness the power of social media to develop a student-centric platform to provide career guidance and information about employment opportunities. Due to her efforts, students from poor and marginalized sections have been able to explore and adopt new career avenues find the right internship opportunities and take benefit of various government schemes and financial assistance programmes for students.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Vidhi Subhash Palsapure Click Here.

From Twitter to Instagram to Snapchat, today’s students are more connected through social media platforms than ever before. While some teachers are rigid over the idea that social media be used in the classroom, others say it can be a useful medium for educational purposes. The reality is, if used in the right way, social media technology in the classroom can help increase student knowledge and improve communication between parents, teachers, and students. Dr. Jaya Kumar started a YouTube channel and her own blog named 'MOJ' to spread happiness and optimism among students

Using Social Media For Spreading Positivity among the Youth

Dr. Jaya Kumar believes that if you are not updated, you are outdated and social media is a tool that you can use to stay updated. As an educator, she is providing the right guidance to the youth as well as inculcating values, a sense of nationalism, and positivity in them.

She has her own YouTube channel on which she regularly posts videos that motivate the youth. She also posts videos of her various sessions as well as videos on various social issues. Apart from that, she runs a free motivational blog named 'MOJ' - http://mojsoul.blogspot.com to spread happiness and optimism among students and other people. She has posted more than 470 articles on her blog.

Click Here for Her Blogs Hosted by Speaking Tree (Times of India)

Activities and Initiatives on Social Media

She has always volunteered for various social causes and campaign initiatives by the Government of India like the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao programme, Short Film on Swatch Bharat Abhiyan, and many others. She has taken several free online sessions on personality development focusing on various moral aspects like honesty and self-discipline. Some of her initiatives are -

Click Here to Reach Dr. Jaya Kumar’s YouTube Channel

Achievements

In 2021, she received the All India First prize by the Ministry of Ayush, Government of India in the Video Blogging Contest #AyushseJeevaniShakti. Dr. Jaya Kumar's articles have been published in various reputed national Newspapers and Magazines. She posts blogs on the speaking tree (A Times network) blog page regularly to inspire youth as well as people of all age groups. She has also made a short film on Covid Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) to spread the message about CAB, especially for our younger generation. This was approved by the Madhya Pradesh Government to be showcased on social media.

Click Here for a Link to her Blog Posted by Famous Malaysian Architect Jimmy Lim

Click Here to Reach Dr. Jaya Kumar’s Blog Website

Dr. Jaya Kumar is a finalist for Best Initiative (Using Social Media) Because...with the help of Social Media she has been able to connect and guide the youth globally. Her efforts in the form of inspiring YouTube Videos and Encouraging Blog Posts have helped guide young students tide through difficult times while staying positive.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Dr. Jaya Kumar Click Here.

The COVID-induced lockdown has negatively impacted people of all ages across the world. With people confined to the limits of their homes, a significant surge has been witnessed in the stress and anxiety levels, especially in the face of being infected, social isolation, economic downturn, unemployment and poverty. At such testing times, Ms Sonia Mangla, a counsellor at Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh, chalked out several programs, prepared videos and delivered online guidance to the parents and students to keep them fit physically and mentally.

Counselled Students, Parents & Colleagues

The pandemic has brought extensive changes in the educational systems worldwide. The centuries-old, chalk and talk teaching shifted online overnight. While online teaching-learning helped contain the spread of the virus, it cropped up anxiety among students which is being attributed to poor internet connectivity, adjustment to online learning, access to smartphones and more. 

Being a counsellor of a school, Ms Sonia Manglacommunicated with the parents about the anti-social behaviour of their children, loss of interest in studies, increased screen time, physical aggression, depression and more. Thereafter she decided to counsel the students and promote mental wellness. 

She individually counselled the troubled children and helped them in improving their abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour. She further connected with the parents and explored positive ways of dealing with the errant behaviour of their wards. 

To boost the confidence of her students, colleagues, as well as parents, Ms Sonia conducted numerous virtual sessions on well-being and coping strategies. She emphasised spending time with family, staying active, being involved in community activities to deal with the pandemic, and so forth. 

Helping the underprivileged 

During the lockdown, Ms Sonia also held sessions for the underprivileged children and their parents and provided them with due help as and when required. She educated them on a good diet, ways to enhance immunity and provided tips to face the existing circumstances. Furthermore, she also provided them with food, essentials, and medicines whenever and wherever required. 

Special Sessions for CWSN

Special sessions were conducted by Ms Sonia for the Children with Special Needs (CWSN) as they were the worst sufferers during the lockdown. She tried to eliminate the loneliness from their lives and made sure that they do not become the victims of cyberbullying or inadvertent content. She further advised parents to engage their wards in appropriate physical activities or creative pursuits to assist them to sail smoothly through the difficult times. 

Ms Sonia Mangla is a finalist of Best Initiative (Mental Health Awareness) because... in these testing times when mental and emotional wellbeing of people was being challenged, she stepped out and up to help people, especially students and Children with Special Needs to stay healthy both inside and out.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Sonia Mangla Click Here.

When the country was battling with COVID-19, health professionals and educators noticed a growing crisis among young adults struggling with mental health problems, including suicidal ideation, anxiety and depression. From being cooped up within the 4 walls to complete detachment from friends, teachers and peers, students were faced with several mental issues which they couldn’t understand or tackle on their own.

In such times, educators also have to don a hat of a counsellor and help students navigate through these tricky times. Dr Jaya Kumar did exactly that for her students. During the 2^ndwave of the pandemic, she provided a safe space for the students to open up and talk about the internal struggles they were going through.

Key Initiatives On Mental Health Awareness

With parents busy keeping them safe and ensuring that their physical needs were met, students often felt lonely and ignored. During her sessions, she found that most students just needed a sympathetic ear that could hear their problems and consider them important enough to be addressed. She also conducted live and free webinars and sessions to address the challenges being faced by students and to provide the right counselling to help them sail through dark times.

Dr Jaya Kumar decided that the best way to help students deal with anxiety and depression is by spreading positivity among them. She produced a series of blogs and videos promoting a positive mindset and urged the students to use their mental strength to overcome challenges.

Facing exams when you have not attended school for even a single day in the entire year can be daunting for anyone, let alone young students. The annual exams which were being held in online or hybrid mode put a lot of stress and created anxiety among students. To ease the pre-exams stress and to help them put up their best efforts she held a Session on ‘No to Exam Stress’. On similar lines, looking at the several incidents of online abuse and violence, she also conducted a session for students on Non-violent communication and how to interact and deal with bullies in a constructive manner.

Click Here to Reach Dr Jaya Kumar’s YouTube Channel

Other Achievements

Dr Jaya Kumar’s work on Mental Health has been appreciated by several independent organizations. In 2021, she received the All India First prize by the Ministry of Ayush, Government of India, in the Video Blogging Contest #AyushseJeevaniShakti. This video also focussed on Mental health which is also related to living a disciplined and healthy lifestyle.

She has also made a short film on Covid Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) to spread the message about CAB, especially for the younger generation. This film was approved by the Madhya Pradesh Government to be showcased on social media.

Click Here to Watch Film on COVID Appropriate Behaviour

In the coming days, she plans to enhance her initiatives further. She will continue to conduct various live and free sessions so that more and more students get the benefit of her sessions. She also volunteers for various social causes and campaign initiatives by the Government of India like the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao programme, Short Film on Swatch Bharat Abhiyan and many others.

Dr Jaya Kumar is a finalist for Best Initiative (For Mental Health Awareness) Because...her purpose as a human being is to serve humanity and inspire the youth and spread the message of positivity in society. She serves as a role model for several students who look up to her as a friend, philosopher and guide.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Dr Jaya Kumar Click Here.

Each student is unique and so is each course. Each learner learns differently, their attention span, learning styles, and learning times are different. Keeping this in mind, Dr. Sameer Sudhakar Pingle used mixed pedagogy to cater to different needs and requirements of students and contemporary pop culture to make learning fun. Thanks to his unique teaching style, students find it easy to focus on higher as well as the lower level of Bloom's taxonomy in the same session.

Case Studies, Research as Teaching Pedagogy

To make his class interesting, Dr. Pingle uses case studies, research articles in the classes. Some of them are discussed below:

Case Writing: To introduce the case study technique, he asked his students to rewrite old cases and offer a contemporary perspective keeping COVID-19 in mind. On similar lines, he also wrote a case on the business problem of a student and asked the class to discuss it. While using Case Study Method, he also invited the case protagonist to discuss the details of the case with the students.

Using Pop culture and Films: Taking advantage of contemporary films and pop culture, Dr. Pingle conducted a few sessions keeping Bollywood and Hollywood movies like Chak de India, Lagaan, Expatriate, Exam, etc., as his source material.

Innovative Assessment Model: The mid-term, as well as end-term examination for a few courses, were replaced by interesting assessment components (Case Writing, Research Paper presentation, Rewriting an existing case by adding COVID-19 dimension, etc). In one assessment, he gave Rubrics where students knew the instructor's performance expectations for an assignment or the project.

Industry Experts / Guest Lectures: To ensure that students are able to get the necessary industry exposure during the lockdown, he invited several industry experts and guest lecturers. He introduced the points system wherein for every guest/expert session attended by the students they scored points and these points were used to give bonus marks to them. This enhanced engagement as well as the commitment of the students.

Posters instead of Presentations: To give some much-needed off-screen time to the students, Dr. Pingle decided to replace posters in place of presentations. Students were asked to prepare detailed posters for different projects instead of presentations, giving them a completely new perspective of pitching and idea without the help of any tech tools.

Videos and Role Plays: His students were encouraged to make videos as part of assignments instead of written projects. Along similar lines, he also held a video-making competition along with role plays exercises and activities.

Impact

The impact of his innovative teaching method has been the high level of student engagement, improved questioning, improvement in remembering, improvement in ability to apply concepts, enhanced vertical and horizontal linkages, off the class discussions about the topic/assignment/project. In the future, he is planning to conduct 'Recruitment Fair' as part of the Recruitment and Selection course. The objective is also to collaborate with professional bodies like ISTD, NHRD, NIPM, ICA for expert sessions, joint seminars, industry connections, case writing, and research.

Dr. Sameer Sudhakar Pingle is a finalist for Most Innovative Teaching Method Because... amid the pandemic, he used innovative and unique mixed pedagogy to engage students in different academic projects and assignments. His mixed pedagogy technique has had a positive impact on the performance of students.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Dr. Sameer Sudhakar Pingle Click Here.

Online learning has become more and more common, especially afterCOVID-19 as people are having to continue their learning while staying at home. Being a teacher at heart, Dr. Poornima V felt the need to develop a child-centric learning management tool that can make learning from home more effective, and hence she developed 'Agile Shaala'.

What is Agila Shaala?

Agile Shaala is a virtual learning community that includes each family as a team. It is the first virtual school that is using a combination of agile management along with a phenomenon-based experiential pedagogy. At Agile Shaala, children are encouraged to develop self-learning skills and are handheld through online interactive sessions. It offers an experiential learning platform that caters to grade 1 to 12 students. It is an attempt to bridge this gap by familiarising the children with the required 21st-century skills.

Click Here to Reach FaceBook Page of Agile Shala

Click Here to Reach Agile Shala Website

Click Here to Reach YouTube Page of Agile Shala

Why AgileShala?

Dr. Poornima V is a neuroscientist by profession and a researcher. She realized that the Ph.D. students and interns had very little conceptual clarity and almost no practical experience even after years of formal education. This made her think about the present education system. Being a neuroscientist, she understood the gap between how the brain learns to how we are taught in conventional schooling. Hence, she developed Agile Shaala.

Teaching Method at Agile Shaala

 Agile Shaala is a virtual learning community. The children are handheld through online interactive sessions. The Agile Shaala pedagogy relies upon three pillars -

1. Learning management through Agile methodologies in classrooms
2. Gamification of learning
3. Integrated holistic learning through phenomenon-based experiential learning methods.

This allows children to explore different topics at their own pace with the freedom to pick their choice. The whole process is personalized to the child. The pedagogy is experiential as well as holistic. Children learn through inquiry-based learning, asking questions of the world around them and finding answers through discussions, activities, and reading reference books.

Learning management happens through continuous reflection and improvisation through the use of agile management tools. This is the first virtual school that is using a combination of agile management along with phenomenon-based experiential pedagogy.

Activities and Initiatives by Agile Shaala

Agile Shaala conducts “phenomenon week” every month focussing on integrated learning. As part of this week, it has socio-emotional skills workshops, adolescent education, and is also planning to teach through travel chapters. It also has after-school programs in science and maths. Edumakers is another initiative where it trains teachers in experiential learning and neuroscience for education.

Impact of Agile Shaala

AgileShala has received very good feedback in the recent past. The key takeaways have been - children are enjoying learning, they have become self-motivated and independent learners, their curiosity and questioning skills have increased and they can apply what they learn in finding solutions. Further, the plan is to set up experiential learning clusters all over India and abroad which can support hybrid learning (virtual and physical).

Dr. Poornima V is a finalist for Most Innovative Teaching Method Because...she has developed an innovative teaching technique using a combination of agile management along with phenomenon-based experiential pedagogy. She has also integrated online learning techniques into extracurricular activities for the holistic development of students.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Dr. Poornima V Click Here.

In India, more than 19,500 languages or dialects are spoken as mother tongues. However, Linguistics, not being much popular as a subject, does not have enough visibility in technological institutes. Hence, Anindita Sahoo, a Professor of Linguistics at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras introduced a new course 'Linguistic Typology' that allowed her students to learn various theoretically interesting things about indigenous languages in India. 

Linguistic Typology - Indigenous Languages in India

Through this newly introduced course - Linguistic Typology, students got an opportunity to learn various theoretically interesting things about different languages spoken in India. The course highlights the similarities and differences among languages belonging to different families that may not stem from shared genetic relationships or language contact with the goal of enabling the learners to understand the nuances of language-typological generalizations of various kinds.

Through her assignments, students understood their own languages better. Further, the course facilitates the learning of different ways of constructing language samples and familiarizes the participants with sources for obtaining language data. To add more, this course also enables the learners to do a comparative analysis of the grammar of human languages which may eventually reveal systematic patterns of variation.

Teaching Techniques and Pedagogical Tools

Her classroom is generally a multilingual classroom where she experiments with data from various languages which students find academically enriching. The assignments given to the students are quite innovative. As a part of the assignment, corresponding to different aspects of languages, students are asked to give inputs from their native language that guides them to realize intricate nuances in their own languages. Most importantly, in this course, Language is not dealt with in isolation but is studied regularly in real-life contexts such as social issues, politics, etc. Interesting projects allow students to explore more than what is covered in the class, which enables them to realize unexplored aspects of their native languages.

Challenges Faced While Teaching Linguistics

Initially, Anindita Sahoo's course was not getting enough registration from the student community. Further, the distributed environment of the class was the biggest challenge for her in running this course. The students were from a diverse group of multiple disciplines in science and technology. Therefore, bringing them on one beginner’s platform was difficult for her.

However, the tutorials run by her teaching assistants (TAs) helped her to solve this problem. They took care of the students who needed some extra attention to understand the technical aspect of Linguistics.

In the future, she is planning to make this course available to all the disciplines at IIT madras. Therefore, the interdisciplinarity of this course has always been her focus. She wants this to gain the popularity and attention of the academic community.

Anindita Sahoo is a finalist for Most Innovative Teaching Method Because...she is using an innovative teaching method to engage her students. At the same time, she is trying to promote regional languages and this is providing an opportunity to students to learn various interesting things about indigenous languages in India. She has also listed this course on the Swayam platform.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Anindita Sahoo Click Here.

“If the poor boy cannot come to education, education must go to him.”

Swami Vivekananda

Today, we live in a world where building a career amidst cut-throat competition is considered to be the ultimate achievement. In such times, coming across a person who lives by the words of Sage, Philosopher, and Educationist Swami Vivekananda is a rarity. But this is exactly what Dr. Shradha Vasisht has done. Dr. Vasisht is a hardworking and self-motivated woman who has realized the true power and potential of education. Backed by her belief in the words “when we educate one person, we change a life. When we educate many, we change the world”, she single-handedly launched Sabkishiksha - a socio-educational initiative that is aimed at spreading awareness about new and available educational opportunities among Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Disadvantaged Group (DG).

Her Journey

Like any college student of Delhi University, Dr. Vasisht had big ambitions and aspirations of her own. Being a dedicated student; she studied and excelled at academics and earned an MA (Sociology) degree from Delhi School of Economics, M.Ed, MPhil, and P.hD from Jamia Millia Islamia University. Thereafter, she completed her B.EI.Ed from Gargi College (University of Delhi) also managed to crack the UGC-NET-JRF Examination.

Her Inspiration

Due to her academic brilliance, she also received many lucrative job offers, but that is not the path that she had carved out for herself. As part of her academic pursuits, she had also associated with an NGO and traveled across the country. It was during her travels to rural, Naxalite, and semi-urban areas that she witnessed the difference between Bharat and India. The stark reality of how urban kids were spoilt for choice, while students in rural areas were struggling to get basic details and information about education opportunities left her shocked. This stark difference in accessibility, reach and awareness about education, convinced Dr. Shradha Vasisht to make “Equal Education for All” her Life’s Motto and she launched Sabkishiksha - a socio-educational initiative.       

Her Struggles

But launching an educational awareness programme, that aims to not only bridge the physical barriers and address the unavailability of information but also challenges traditional social norms was not an easy task. Add to that the pressure of being a woman who is trying to advocate ‘Education for All’, especially for girl students, in rural and Naxal areas, it was a significant challenge.

During the initial phases of Sabkishiksha, Dr. Vashishtfaced a lot of resistance. Even her well-wishers felt that the challenge was too big for a single person to address and some even advised her to leave it to the government to ensure education for all. On the other hand, in areas where she was trying to spread awareness about educational opportunities, she could see social and traditional boundaries coming in her way, especially while advocating Education for Girl Students.

Her Initiative

Despite these challenges, Dr. Vasisht pushed on and launched Sabkishiksha – a digital community to share information about educational opportunities and options available to the students, especially for those belonging to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Disadvantaged Groups (DG), including SC, ST & OBC-NCL Category. She started creating digital content and videos on YouTube under Sabkishiksha Channel.

Click Here to Reach Sabkishiksha YouTube Channel

The information provided on Sabkishiksha covered Admission Updates about Govt Schools like Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sarvodaya School, Schools of Specialised Excellence, Sainik Schools, and Navodaya Vidyalaya. On similar lines, Sabkishiksha helped students from Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Disadvantaged Group (DG) to get admission to premier private schools and also helped them avail benefits of RTE including no school fee, free uniform, free books, and free stationery. In addition to these, Sabkishiksha also provides informative content on various Government schemes such as Ladli Scheme under which govt provides financial support to girl students for their education.

Her Achievements

Since its inception in 2018,  Sabkishiksha has grown in stature and reach. From being shunned by her own well-wishers to being appreciated by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia; the initiative has earned a place in the hearts of 2,25,000 families in rural and semi-urban areas by helping them find the right sources to get educated and build a better tomorrow. With 1300+ videos that have garnered over 160 million views, Sabkishiksha has received the YouTube silver play button and has been praised by many, and has earned the badge of being a Section 8 Non-Profit organization (NPO).

Dr. Shradha Vasisht’s efforts have also been acknowledged by several organizations and she has received the following awards and honours in the last year.

1. 'Women of the Future Award 2021'.
2. 'LinkedIn Person of the year 2020' by CONTRACTSANDFREELANCE
3. 'Most Influential Educationist Award' by National Excellence Awards.
4. 'Women Achiever' by Akashwani with a 50-minute long interview

Dr. Shradha Vasisht is a finalist for Best Initiative (For Grassroots Service) Because…despite the opportunity to build a lucrative career for herself, she decided to take up the cause of ‘Education for All’ and established Sabkishiksha - a socio-educational initiative, to enable students from rural and poor backgrounds to get quality education and be part of India’s success story.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Dr Shradha Vasisht Click Here.

“We were in the same storm. Not in the same boat.”

This simple line truly captures the different ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the lives of each individual differently. While some were worried about contracting the virus, there were others who lost their jobs, livelihood and were struggling to make ends meet. But it is such times of adversity that inspire ordinary people to do extraordinary things and emerge as heroes.

ChaitalyNandy – a Physical Education Teacher at Sacred Heart Sr. Sec. School, Chandigarh, went above and beyond her line of duty as an educator to support marginalized sections of the society during the lockdown period and in the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a series of initiatives, Ms. Nandy created a sense of community, support, and hope for underprivileged sections of society and addressed their needs and concerns during the worst of times. 

Mask and Ration Distribution

While masks have been deemed as the first line of defense against COVID-19, not everyone can afford them. Ms. Nandy found that many people belonging to marginalized sections were aware of the importance of wearing masks but they lacked the means to buy or own one. To help protect common people including street vendors, labourers, auto drivers, delivery agents, and other workers that frequent her locality, she started holding Mask distribution drives. So far, over 2000 masks have been distributed to common and needy people by her.

PoshanMaah

As the pandemic stretched on, it also hurt the finances and economic situation of underprivileged sections of the society. The extended lockdowns and COVID-19 precautionary measures put several out of jobs and livelihood options, with many even being able to make ends meet. In such testing times, Ms. Chaitaly contributed money generously and distributed free rations, food packages, and items among the residents of Dhanas Milk village.

In addition to this, she along with the NSS volunteers from Sacred Heart Sr. Sec. School regularly organized Mobile Bhandara for the needy and starving. Her efforts of kindness have helped hundreds and also spread a cheer of positivity among people as well as her students in gloomy times of the pandemic.

Busting Fake News and Myths around COVID-19

COVID-19 also saw the rise of another information pandemic in which fake news, information, rumours, and speculations become common. In fact, with little or no information available about the disease and virus, people were being bombarded with half-truths which made it difficult to differentiate truth from hoaxes. But, most of this fake news was to do with people’s health and lives and therefore couldn’t be ignored.

With this aim, Ms. Chaitaly with her team of volunteers visited slums and nearby villages after the lockdown to educate the people about the Covid19 virus and dispel any myths around it. The team conducted several workshops for common people, helping them understand how to identify fake news and stop misinformation on social media platforms. It may seem like a small initiative, but it motivated people to come forth and follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and guidelines to keep themselves safe during the pandemic.

Awareness Drive for Social Distancing and COVID-19 Vaccination

The Covid-19 pandemic, made mankind realize that health is everything in life. As our government strives to get its citizens vaccinated against the deadly virus, so did Ms. Chaitaly. She guided and inspired her students to spread awareness about COVID-19 guidelines, social distancing, COVID appropriate behaviour, and vaccination through poems, posters, slogans and made the people aware of the need to get themselves vaccinated. They encouraged them to come forward for the vaccination and get protected against the COVID-19 virus.

COVID-19 Awareness Movie 1 – Click Here to Watch

COVID-19 Awareness Movie 2 – Click Here to Watch

COVID-19 Awareness Movie 3 – Click Here to Watch

COVID-19 Awareness Movie 4 – Click Here to Watch

Fund-raiser for Migrant Laborers

During the 1^st Phase of COVID-19 lockdown, thousands of migrant labourers were forced to walk back to their hometowns in the absence of any means of transportation. Thousands of migrant labourers who were traveling on foot to their homes didn’t have enough money, food, or even in a few cases footwear to protect themselves.

In such desperate times, Ms. Chaitaly along with her team decided to contribute to their safety. Teachers and students from Sacred Heart Sr. Sec. School, Chandigarh raised funds to provide food, essential items, and safety kits for Slum dwellers, workers, and daily wage earners. Inspired by her work, some volunteers also came forward to support the marginalized sections of the society financially during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Online Physical Fitness Sessions

Ms. Chaitaly made sure that students, staff members, and even the supporting staff were in the pink of health amidst the pandemic. Although education had moved on to virtual classrooms, she is a Physical Education Teacher who chose YouTube as a platform to keep students and teachers physically fit. Every morning, she held physical education classes for students to spread cheer and positivity, in which teachers also participated enthusiastically. She also organized Surya Namaskar sessions for the staff members as well as for the supporting staff.

Dr. Chaitaly Nandy is a finalist for Best Initiative (For Grassroots Service) Because…through a series of initiatives, Ms. Nandy created a sense of community, support, and hope for underprivileged sections of the society and addressed their needs and concerns during the worst of the times.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Dr. Chaitaly Nandy Click Here.

COVID-19 pandemic has been a global catastrophe that has exposed the stark inequality and social differences that still plague our world. But it is times like these that also allow new heroes to emerge to address challenges and concerns of poor, underprivileged, and disadvantaged groups of the society. Ms. Amandeep Kaur a teacher at AKSIPS 41 Smart School, Chandigarh is also one of them.

When the world was thrown into chaos and everyone was worried about their personal health and well-being, Ms. Kaur decided to help out those who were neglected by everyone. Be it migrant labourers who were travelling back to their hometowns after the loss of livelihoods or poor and downtrodden sections of society in her immediate surroundings; she decided to launch a series of initiatives to help meet their concerns. To help extend the reach of her work, she also involved her school students and inspired them to be part of Roti Bank and Ration Distribution Drives; sowing the seeds of empathy and compassion in the next generation as well.

Roti Bank

During the pandemic, arranging food, be it for poor and downtrodden people or for patients who are suffering from the COVID-19 was a major challenge. To address this, Ms. Amandeep Kaur launched a special initiative called ‘Roti Bank’ which was aimed at feeding the needy and poor who are unable to arrange food for themselves.

As part of this initiative, students were asked to bring extra Rotis and paranthas with pickle/sabzi rolled up in their tiffin box. These extra Rotis were then collected by a team of students; separated and repacked to make food packets for distribution. The food packets prepared by the Roti Bank were then distributed among patients and their medical attendants at the PGIMER in sector 12 or GMC in Sector 16, Chandigarh. Students of all age groups and classes from Nursery to Class 10 have participated in the Roti Bank initiative with great enthusiasm. In addition to having a social impact, an even bigger achievement of the Roti Bank Initiative was to instill a spirit of empathy and compassion among students, who will go on to become model citizens in the future.

Distribution of Dry Rations

Staying true to the core mantra of AKSIPS School ‘Giving back to the society and sharing resources’, Ms. Kaur also inspired her students to organize Dry Ration Distribution Drives for poor and marginalized sections of the society. Inspired by the initiative, students and teachers came forward to not only donate dry rations but also to participate in the distribution drives and ensure that these resources reach the needy in time. From migrant labourers to street children and poor in the neighbourhood, dry ration packets were distributed among all, by the students.

In addition to the distribution of Dry Ration among the poor and needy, she also inspired the school staff to cook mini-meals and hold langar outside Govt. Hospital, Sector 16, Chandigarh, on one Sunday every month. This practice is being continued even today when the impact of the pandemic has receded significantly.

Amandeep Kaur is a finalist for Best Initiative (For Grassroots Service) Because…when faced with an existential crisis, she decided to look at the needs of the downtrodden sections and address them. In addition to her personal effort, she also inspired teachers and students from her school to join and instilled a spirit of empathy and compassion among them.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Amandeep Kaur Click Here.

Students of today have the problem of plenty when it comes to studying materials and resources, but what they lack is time and ability on how to use them to the best of their advantage. Shalini Chauhan – a primary teacher at Indirapuram Public School, Indirapuram, took this as an opportunity to experiment with Gamification and used several online tools and games to make learning Mathematics fun for her students.

Challenges in Online Learning

During this experiment, Shalini faced many challenges most prominent among them being lack of attention and engagement. She believes, the best teaching experience is where one can see the students engaged in interacting with each other, exploring, questioning, and explaining each other, applying their knowledge towards new situations, and reflecting on their knowledge & learning strategies.

Concept of Fun in Education

During the initial phases of the pandemic, Shalini realized that it was important to make online education fun and engaging while retaining the learning benefits. As a result, she decided to integrate online gaming and fun activities into her teaching pedagogy. This initiative immediately showed results with students engaging more in the virtual classes and positively contributing to their own learning.

Using Online Tools and Games as part of Teaching Pedagogy

Shalini made online games to help her students learn math effectively and in a fun way. She tried to make her students use the online medium efficiently and happily. She started integrating online tools in her teaching pedagogy based on the 5E Inquiry-Based Instructional Model which helped her students to prepare for learning by cultivating skills for all areas of learning, getting a deeper understanding of new concepts, creating ownership, and promoting engagement.

To keep the students engaged and motivated, she not only explored new dimensions of digital education but also made effective use of pedagogy in the best possible manner. Technology helped her in promoting awareness about SDGs. Online Tools like 3DBear, flipgrid, wakelet, Twitter, and padlet made it possible for her to pursue her objectives. She partnered with Kamla Nehru Public School, Punjab which would have been impossible without the video conferencing platforms like MS TEAMS.

Other Achievements

Backed by her new learning with fun techniques, she became an effective contributor not only for her own students but also started collaborating and reaching out to others. She earned badges and got recognition by becoming MIEE, Wakelet, 3D Bear, Buncee, Nearpod, and Flip grid ambassador. She also collaborated with MS TEAMS in the virtual celebration of Global week #Act4Sdgs.

Her students actively participated in different activities like building comic strips using the pixton.com platform, creating jingles, ppts, and posters using various online tools. She has also participated in global projects such as #act4sgds #KindnessMatters.

Shalini Chauhan is a finalist for Best Use of Edutainment - Making Learning Fun Because…taking advantage of the opportunities presented by the ‘New Normal,’ she adapted and integrated online tools and games in her teaching pedagogy to make mathematics fun for her students.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Shalini Chauhan Click Here.

While health systems, economy, and the general plight of the people made news headlines and were regular topics of prime-time debates for over a year, the educational loss incurred by students and challenges that were faced by educators during this period remains unprecedented.

Rising to the occasion, educators pledged to give a befitting reply to this challenge. Among them was Gurneha Sandhu – a teacher at Indraprastha Global School, Noida, who built synergy among traditional teaching techniques and modern-day digital tools to make learning fun and engaging for her students.

Making Learning Fun Through Virtual Tools

Gurneha Sandhu, an educator, made learning exciting for her students by using technology in the classroom. She launched many programs and initiatives to help her students learn effectively.

Click Here for JAMBOARD on INNOVATIVE TEACHING GLIMPSES

Word wall Quiz and Quizziz

This tool has many options- maze chase, quizshow which kids enjoy, and recapitulation are done in an effective manner. Further, Quizziz induces healthy competition, kids become too excited when the live quiz is started.

Near Pod Games and Kahoot

Nearpod is a platform through which various systems of the body (e.g. digestive system lesson) can be explained in 3D view and various games related to the lesson make the lesson interesting and strengthen the concepts learned. Kahoot is another quiz platform that students love to play.

Flip Teaching

1. EDWARD DE BONO’S 6 THINKING HATS ACTIVITY (Students are divided into groups and given different coloured hats - Red, Green, White, the Black and Blue hat is worn by the teacher- The topics like Soil, Pollution, Plastics can be covered in an interesting manner).
2. PowerPoint Presentations
3. Case study- Students are given a case study on the topics like Pollination, Shadow Puppetry by sending them in breakout rooms and dividing them into groups. Students researched these topics independently and presented their findings before others.
4. Breakout rooms for collaborative learning

JAMBOARD on Harmful Effects of Burning Fossil Fuels

Padlet Board on Uses of Metals and Non-Metals

Padlet Board on Microbes

Hands-on learning/Experiential learning

Completing lab activities, understanding the effects of force by playing with a football in the field, building pinhole camera, kaleidoscope, building circuits, robots (using cold drink cans), making fan using coconut shell, making lamp using pipes, ice- cream box. etc.

Ted Talks and Story Telling

Showing students TED talk videos- listening to the experts and their real-life experiences and live experiments on the stage enhanced the students’ interest in her subject. She has also used many applications like Popplet, MindMeisterand Storyweaver to narrate stories of the Discovery of the cell and the invention of vaccination.

Other Virtual Apps

Homework is one application that Gurneha used to give students home tasks. Her children called it the HOME FUN app. Some other virtual apps that Gurneha used were Jam Board (for BRAINDUMP activity/ revision, in short students record anything they can remember on a particular topic or concept), 360XR lab, Subject Integration, Pear Deck, Comic Strips (Using Pixton), Thinglink (Turning Image into a graphic), FLIPBOOK, Mentimeter, Phet simulations, Augmented & Virtual Reality, TutAR, she is a certified tutAR educator.

Gurneha Sandhu is a finalist for Best Use of Edutainment - Making Learning Fun Because…she used the online medium during the pandemic to keep the students engaged and motivated. The usage of digital tools is helping her engage students at all levels and activate multiple learning styles.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Gurneha Sandhu Click Here.

Even before the pandemic hit us, Abhinav Dutta – a teacher at Ahlcon International School, New Delhi, understood the power of technology and the role that it can play in making Education more engaging and at the same time entertaining for the students. He believes that students of today’s generation thrive the most in a learning environment tailored to promote ‘thinking’ and push the frontiers of knowledge through innovative strategies and teaching practices. This is why Abhinav decided to integrate Ed-Tech tools into his teaching pedagogy. Some of the key projects done by him include:

STEM-based Projects

He has been using a variety of STEM activities in his class like Digitalized Biotech and bio-based fuel design that helps the students to develop critical thinking skills and 21st-century competencies in them.

A Modern Visage To Biology And Biotechnology With Innovative Pedagogy: The Insight Of Remodeling Classroom – Click Here to view the Presentation

Virtual Experiential Learning

The virtual hands-on training was provided to classes X and XII using simulations and videos available on OLABS by Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeeth. Practicals were explained. Simulation proved to be an effective tool as kids learned actively. Class XII students performed bioinformatics practical using NCBI as a computer tool.

Virtual Assembly

Virtual assemblies help in cultivating a sense of belongingness among the students towards their school. Virtual assemblies are an effective and flexible way of delivering impactful lessons. For conducting a virtual assembly, a group of eight students from class XI B (where he was appointed as the class teacher) were selected. Brainstorming on the topic “Keep rivers clean and earth evergreen” was done. Work was distributed and a re-assembly was prepared by using a PowerPoint presentation.

Flipped Classroom

One that inverts the typical cycle of content acquisition and application so that students gain knowledge before the class. The flipped classroom is conducted once every week as an asynchronous class where content is uploaded in the form of a link, e-notes, or assignment. Students are asked to read the content and discussion is done the next day on the topic.

Flipgrid

An engaging tool that empowers the voice of the classroom or at home by recording and sharing videos. Flipgrid videos helped in making biology chapters like crop production easy and interactive.

Plotagon

An expressive tool in which ordinary text can be converted into video and communicated in a way that the class understands. He has prepared many Plotagon videos on biology topics like cell, photosynthesis, and biotechnology.

Podcast and Virtual circle time using Padlet

Podcasts were prepared for class IX Biology students. They contained the summary of the entire chapter with important key points highlighted purposely. They informed the students about the key terms that they can use while reading the chapter. Virtual circle time was conducted in class IX biology for chapter ‘Cell’ by using ‘Padlet’. Students were encouraged to give feedback and share the problems they faced.

Innovative Assessment tools

Assessment tools like Kahoot, Quiziz, and MS forms were used to provide formative and summative feedback using fun games and puzzles which made the online assessment interesting.

SDG based innovation and Use of Virtual Reality

All the e-lessons were designed using sustainable development goals and their importance was highlighted. Also, Virtual Reality technology helped students learn through interactions with a 3D world. Abinav has also been using 3D technology to explore the human body. This provided the students a valuable opportunity to learn in an immersive manner. It also made learning fun and helped the students retain the material for a longer time.

Peer Teaching

Abhinav used Peer Teaching as an effective tool to help the students master a particular subject. As per this technique, a student instructed another student, wherein the former was an expert and the latter a novice. For example, class 10th students were assigned topics as a part of their Multiple assessments and given a week’s time to prepare. Students taught the topics using smart boards and chalkboards.

Other Achievements

For his contributions in the field of Edutainment, Abhinav has also been selected as Ambassador for the following Ed Tech tools - Buncee Ambassador, Wakelet Ambassador, Quizlet Super trainer, Adobe Creative Educator Level 1 and 2, Google Certified Educator, Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, CAP Facilitator, Flipgrid Educator, Nearpod Educator, and Book Creator Certified Educator.

He was also selected as Facilitator for Climate Action Project 2021-22. He has also won the Climate action school of Excellence along with his team of six students who worked tirelessly for finding solutions to problems related to climate change.

Click Here to view Abhinav’s Complete Portfolio of Achievements, Awards, and Certificates

Abhinav Datta is a finalist for Best Use of Edutainment - Making Learning Fun Because…instead of being bogged down by the pandemic, he used technology and ed-tech tools to make online learning both educational and fun for his students.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Abhinav Datta Click Here.

Teachers are agents of change; they shape the future of not only a child but of a country. But when you are entrusted with such a big responsibility, it is also important for you to be able to look after your own growth and evolve as an educator in changing times. To help the teachers do so, Shiv Kumar decided to create Teachers of Bihar – a professional learning community by the teachers and for the teachers.

Teachers of Bihar – Professional Learning Community

Teachers of Bihar is an innovative platform for the teachers, by the teachers, and for the teachers. The initiative which was launched with the aim of bringing to fore the excellent work done by teachers in the state has now transformed into a professional community where teachers network and connect with each other to learn and improve themselves. Within three years of its inception, this initiative has garnered the support of over 70000+ Teachers, 50000+ Students, and 20000+ other members.

Why Teachers of Bihar?

According to Shiv, Teachers of Bihar is not only a group or community, it is an ideological initiative that is aimed at improving the education landscape in the state. Teachers across Bihar have been doing tremendous work in their schools, classrooms, and in different educational forums, to ensure students get the best education possible. Teachers of Bihar was founded with the goal of showcasing the significant work being done by the teachers in the state and inspiring others to join in this cause towards achieving excellence in education.

School on Mobile: Shiv Kumar and his Team at Teachers of Bihar were one of the first groups to mobilize their teachers to start online classes for government school students in the state. Launched under the banner of ‘School on Mobile (SoM), over the last two years, Teachers of Bihar has launched 4 waves of SoM with over 150+ teachers offering online classes to thousands of government school students with their limited resources. SoM initiative has been praised by many organizations like NCERT, CIET, SCERT Bihar, BEPC Bihar, and UNICEF Bihar.

Click Here to Reach Teachers of Bihar Website

The SoM Initiative had four key features, i.e.,

• Live Classes: Live Teaching on the Facebook page of the group
• Sunday Funday: Learning through Fun – Edutainment sessions
• Quiz: Quiz based assessment for students of different classes
• e-Sangarh: Collection of e-content and study materials in one place

In addition to SoM for teaching, the Teachers of Bihar also conducted online assessments of students during the pandemic. So far, the group has assessed over 12500+ children through different online exams and assessment programmes.

Teachers of Bihar Facebook Page: Another major initiative of the group during the pandemic was the launch of its Facebook Group called Teachers of Bihar- The Change Makers where 55K members from all over Bihar shared their own school's activities and interventions at one place. Presently 300+ activities and posts are shared and managed every day on this group.

Click Here to Reach Teachers of Bihar Facebook Page

DiwasGyaan: ‘DiwasGyan’ is a monthly series in which past events related to each day are presented in a unique way. It is not just a collection of information but a systematic guide to link the importance of every day with our curriculum and syllabus. It consists of mapping each day's historical event with textbooks that one can easily understand.

Let’s Talk: ‘Let's talk’ is a very popular teacher’s talk show. In this program, members of the group interact with experts from different fields and seek their opinion on contemporary and relevant issues related to education. The talk show has been very popular in getting diverse perspectives on issues that are plaguing the education system of the state.

Click Here to Watch Let’s Talk Series

Balmanch e-Magazine: Teachers of Bihar also published a monthly e-magazine called ‘BALMANCH’. Specially created for young children, the magazine contains stories, poems, and drawings made by students from all over the state.

'Shiksha-Shruti' Podcast: Shiv and his team have recently launched a podcast series called 'Shiksha-Shruti'. This by the teachers, for the teachers audio feature, allows teachers to present their ideas in a creative way through the audio medium. The podcast has been helping in making the teaching community aware of several pressing issues and also suggesting possible remedies for the same.

Click Here to Know More about Initiatives and Activities of Teachers of Bihar

Mr. Shiv Kumar is a finalist for the Outstanding Educational Leader Award Because… he founded an independent teachers’ network for transforming the education sphere in Bihar. Today, Teachers of Bihar has become a knowledge-sharing platform for teachers and one of the largest online professional learning communities in India.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Shiv Kumar Click Here.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, UNODC launched the ‘Lockdown Learners’ series of interactive online dialogues with students and educators in India. Samarth Pathak spearheaded this series through which a positive framework of action and engagement has been provided to young people and educators on strengthening peace, crime prevention and SDGs. This has been a unique and innovative experiment aimed at promoting awareness and enabling youth action on the Global Goals—while complementing key components of India’s New Education Policy 2020.

What is the Lockdown Learners Series?

Developed under the Education for Justice Initiative (E4J, (a component of the Global Programme for the Implementation of the Doha Declaration), the Lockdown Learners series is aimed at sensitizing students on the concerns of vulnerable groups and issues such as cybercrime, misinformation, gender-based violence, discrimination, and corruption, among others. Designed as a sustained programme with immersive, activity-based engagement with young people, the series includes continuous capacity building of educators and students on these critical issues. At the same time, it also provides students mentorship and knowledge support to use their skills to promote awareness and co-create initiatives/solutions to address these challenges.

Click Here to Know More about Lockdown Learners Series

Focus on Students from Low-Income Groups

Besides top schools and institutions from metropolitan cities, the series has proactively focused on reaching economically disadvantaged students and educators with limited internet access, using innovative and low-cost-high-impact initiatives.

In addition to using a variety of virtual platforms and hybrid modes, Whatsapp and voice notes have been also used to engage students from low-income groups and rural areas. The response to this has been tremendous, especially from girls. On Whatsapp, the Lockdown Learners sessions have almost worked as group interaction, with open discussions. This has proven to be impactful and cost-effective, as students with limited data packs have also been able to join the engagements with no additional expenditure.

Inclusive Engagement Around SDGs

There has also been a conscious effort to be as inclusive and informal as possible to maximise engagement. This has been done by simplifying and demystifying the language around SDGs and other thematic areas of focus and providing a local and even hyperlocal context during discussions.

Using UNODC's special handbooks for educators, modes such as storytelling, activities, thought-provoking open dialogues and Socratic discussions have been adopted to enhance students’ interest and inspire them towards responsible and ethical behaviours.

Safe and open spaces for students have been provided in each session, enabling them to share their thoughts and ideas without hesitancy. Educators have been involved as focal points for each student group to ensure long-term engagement and provided training to effectively teach and lead school-focused interventions on the aforementioned thematic areas. Free-of-cost educational material has been shared and digital information repositories have been created for student groups. Vibrant networks of action have been developed with youth and educators to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, ideas and initiatives. School-led, youth-driven solutions have been co-created and effectively showcased on various platforms.

This is also evident in the wide range of creative and innovative products that students have created and shared with UNODC: these include songs, interactive videos, games, blogs, websites etc. Some are even designing social initiatives and network-building focused on the SDGs.

Student-Driven Online Community Collectives

During the pandemic, UNODC has also supported student-driven online community collectives—mainly on Whatsapp—to provide knowledge support and assistance to communities. Through these, members verify and share leads on emergency information, and raise awareness on vaccines, masks and other safety precautions among other things.

Achievement and Impact

So far, the Lockdown Learners initiative has reached over 14,000 young students and educators from public and private schools in rural and urban settings across 16 states/Union Territories across India—including the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, Government of India. Education resources developed by UNODC have been shared with over 19,000 students and educators across India, besides the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas. The United Nations has also recognized the contributions made by Lockdown Learners and has featured it in UN Innovation Network’s “Best of 2020".

Samarth Pathak is a finalist for Outstanding Educational Leader Because… during the pandemic, where needs and concerns of the youth and educators were largely ignored, Samarth and UNODC provided them with a positive framework and platform to not only share their challenges but also invited continued engagement and youth action on strengthening peace, crime prevention and SDGs.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Samarth Pathak Click Here.

The 2^nd wave of COVID-19 was one of the most devastating phases of national emergency that we have seen. The rapid multiplication of cases soon overwhelmed and crumbled the health infrastructure in Mumbai and its suburb Thane. During such challenging times, Dr. Nikita Kothari - Principal of Arunodaya Public School, relentlessly worked to help fellow citizens get the necessary help to stay safe and protected.

Social Outreach during 2^nd wave of the COVID-19

In times of such crisis, without worrying about her own health and safety, Dr. Kothari stepped out to help her fellow citizens. She joined hands with an NGO and ensured that people who were suffering from severe infections and needed medical help and hospitalization got it in time. She also coordinated the availability of medical supplies, oxygen cylinders, and hospital beds during the 2^nd wave of the pandemic, when all three things were in short supply nationally. Her effort to ensure that medical help required by fellow citizens was available in time has saved many lives in the city.

Food Distribution Drive

When lockdown and COVID-19 restrictions extended further due to the 2^nd wave, several people at the bottom of the economic pyramid lost their jobs and livelihood. During April-May 2021, Dr. Kothari got several SOS calls highlighting the plight of these marginalized sections of society and decided to do something about it. She along with the help of an NGO decided to hold regular food distribution drives in and around the areas of her school. She distributed food supplies, dry rations, and daily necessities to poor families to ensure they didn’t have to go hungry during those tough times.

Emotional and Mental Support to Students

While fulfilling her duties towards society and fellow citizens, she didn’t forget her students. Being surrounded by negative news and the atmosphere of gloom was having an adverse impact on the mental health of the students. This was further aggravated by uncertainty about their studies, exams, and future in general. Looking at the rapidly deteriorating mental health of the students, Dr. Kothari decided to hold online sessions and webinars to help students evolve a positive mindset during the pandemic.

Click Here to Watch Dr. Kothari’s Video Session

She also motivated students to not suppress their feeling and emotions and instead reach out to her in case they were feeling down or anxious. To ensure that students also had some professional help, she also invited experts and counselors to hold sessions on mental well-being and how students can keep a positive outlook and continue to work on their studies.

The Zeal – Virtual Annual Day Event

To bring back a feeling of normalcy and ensure that students get a way to express themselves creatively, Dr. Nikita Kothari and her team at Arunodaya Public School held ‘Tarang - The Zeal’ – A Virtual Annual Day Event. To give the students a feeling of being back in the school and participating in the regular curricular and co-curricular activities, Dr. Kothari planned a virtual event similar to an on-campus event.

The event had students of different classes participate virtually in various activities like a musical orchestra, mesmerizing classical dance performance, virtual Yoga workshop conducted by the students, and Martial Arts and Self-Defence sessions. The students also put up a drama on the theme ‘All the world’s a stage, which stimulated the imagination & creativity of their peers. Another group of students also put up a short skit depicting life before the COVID-19 pandemic and what the New Normal will look like in the coming months.

Dr. Nikita Kothari is a finalist for the Outstanding Educational Leader Award Because… during the 2^nd wave of the pandemic, she not only ensured the mental and emotional wellbeing of her students but also stepped out to assist her fellow citizens in getting the necessary medical help and COVID-19 assistance that proved to be a lifesaver for many.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Dr. Nikita Kothari  Click Here.

Dr Kalita believes that the biggest responsibility that he shoulders as the principal of the college is to help his students and staff members explore new perspectives, avenues and opportunities to nurture their talents.

From establishing his college as a green campus to actively promoting and participating in NSS activities; from workshops and webinars for the development of faculty members to ensuring improved learning outcomes for his students during the pandemic; Dr Kalita has launched a series of programmes and activities to bring out the best in his students and staff members.

Development of Green Campus

Home to several wildlife sanctuaries and national parks, Sonitpur is one of the greenest areas in Assam. Considering the ecological significance of the district, Dr Kalita decided to transform the Rangapara College campus into a green campus. The green college campus is a commitment made by the college administration and its students to the environment and sustainability of their surrounding ecosystem. Furthermore, the campus has instilled a sense of pride and responsibility among its students for the conservation of nature. Taking this ahead, the green campus study and maintenance has also been made a formal part of the fieldwork-based paper of Environmental Studies at the UG Level.

Click Here to Watch Rangapara College’s Green Campus

Due to Dr Kalita’s efforts, Rangapara College has also been awarded the District Green Champion Certificate of Sonitpur District for the Academic Year 2021-22 by the Mahatma Gandhi National Council of Rural Education – Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education. The award celebrates the institution for successfully setting up the Swachhta Action Plan Committee, adoption of implementation of the best practices in the areas of Sanitation, Hygiene, Waste Management, Water Management, Energy Management and Greenery Management.

Click here to watch highlights of Rangapara College's Green Campus Initiatives

Key Activities and Initiatives

In addition to the development of the Rangapara College campus as Green Campus, Dr Kalita has also launched a series of student development and faculty development activities and initiatives on the campus to enable and empower them to grow in their academic and professional career.

Blended Teaching-Learning Seminar: Pandemic was a tough time for students as well as faculty members alike. While during the 1^st wave of the pandemic, the digital divide and access to the internet and gadgets proved to be a challenge, the 2^nd wave brought forth its own set of challenges, i.e., dealing with the hybrid mode of learning wherein the college was partially operational in physical and online modes. To address this challenge and equip his staff members with adequate tools and knowledge, Dr Kalita organized seminars and workshops on Blended Teaching-Learning Mode for the faculty members. The workshop focused on how to ensure academic continuity amid disruptions and adapt to the new normal of hybrid learning mode.

Environment Workshop: Being awarded the green campus award, Dr Kalita took the responsibility of making faculty members and students equal stakeholders in the maintenance and sustenance of the ecological balance on campus. To this end, a series of seminars and workshops were held on campus to sensitize students and faculty members towards environmental challenges and concerns and to highlight their role in ensuring that the campus remained clean and green.

Free TET Coaching: The college organized free coaching and training for students for the Teachers Eligibility Test on Campus to help aspirants from poor and rural backgrounds to get adequate guidance and training to take on the competitive examination.

Social Outreach Programmes through NSS: Along with his responsibilities towards his students and staff members, Dr Kalita also understood the part he had to play for the society and people around it. To this end, he coordinated several social outreach programmes with the help of his students. With the help of volunteers from the National Service Scheme of Rangapara College, Dr Kalita launched a food distribution drive to poor and marginalized sections.

The NSS team ensured the availability of food to over 50 Needy and Homeless people during the pandemic. In addition to this, he also held a door-to-door awareness campaign to promote social distancing and guide people to follow COVID Appropriate Behaviour. The work and social outreach programmes carried out by Dr Kalita and his team have been recognized by the Mahatma Gandhi National Council of Rural Education. The recognition lauds him for the formation and management of 5 Volunteer teams as part of the Beat COVID Campaign Initiative. 

Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan: Under the initiative of Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan, Rangapara College adopted 4 villages in Sonitpur District. Since then, the college has been actively involved in ensuring the holistic development of the village and its people. During the 2^nd wave of the pandemic, under the leadership of Dr Kalita, student volunteers have distributed Winter Clothes and Books to the needy people of Adopted Villages. On similar lines, people of the adopted villages have been sensitized about the precautionary measures against COVID-19 and a sanitiser distribution drive has also been carried out in these villages.

In addition to this, the college has also adopted one Orphanage in the district and is continually working for the betterment of the children. The college has admitted all students from the Orphanage into the College free of cost. In addition to this, children of the orphanage have also been provided free textbooks and other study material.

Start-up and Incubation Centre: Taking advantage of the geographic location of the college, Dr Kalita plans to launch a start-up and incubation centre on the campus. He plans on leveraging the entrepreneurial spirit of his students and fostering and nurturing their talents into working start-ups under Skill-India and Make-in-India initiatives of the Govt. of India.

Free Online Education: Another initiative of Dr Kalita which is expected to go live soon is offering free online education. With the help of faculty members at Rangapara College, he plans on creating a series of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCS) that will help students adapt to the hybrid mode of learning. To this end, the college has already invested heavily in the development of necessary infrastructure including setting up a new state-of-the-art smart classroom equipped with the latest ICT technologies for the creation of e-contents.

Dr Ranjan Kalita is a finalist for the Outstanding Educational Leader Award Because… through his constant efforts and motivation, he has helped Rangapara College make significant achievements in teaching and research. Through his various teacher and student training webinars and workshops and social outreach programmes, he has not only inspired students and staff members to work for the college but also for society.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Dr Ranjan Kalita Click Here.

COVID-19 has transformed the world as we know it. While the catastrophe has impacted everyone, it has affected some of us more than others; especially those who come from marginalized sections of society. When it comes to education, students from poor and rural backgrounds were hit the hardest during the pandemic. Be it access to digital learning tools or financial resources to continue their studies amid lockdowns.

These were the major challenges faced by students and faculty members at the Sacred Heart Degree College For Women, Bangalore. Being a minority College for women, most of the students and faculty members are from underprivileged backgrounds. To help them, Ms. Deepa Muthu – Principal, of Sacred Heart Degree College, launched a series of initiatives and ensured academic continuity for them.

Her Inspiration

Being a leader is more than just a position or a chair; it is about making a difference in others’ lives. When it comes to leading her college, Ms. Deepa Muthu believes that true leadership is all about empowering others and this becomes even more important for her as she leads an all-Women college where over 65% of the students belong to SC/ST/minority. 75% are first-generation students and come under the low-income group.

During the pandemic, Ms. Muthu decided to empower her students to make strong and better decisions to help them navigate through tough situations. She along with her team of faculty members took up the role of frontline COVID-19 warriors and helped students manage financial difficulties and economic hardships to ensure academic continuity.

Financial Support to Students

COVID-19 induced lockdown impacted students from poor and marginalized backgrounds the most. While most students in urban and financially stable households were able to continue their academic activities digitally, the reality was in complete contrast when it came to students from Sacred Heart Degree College, Bangalore.

The biggest challenges faced by students of Sacred Heart Degree College for Women, Bangalore were financial difficulties and economic hardships. With over 65% of students coming from marginalized communities and over 75% of the students being first-generation learners coming from low-income groups; the college had a tough task ahead of itself when it came to ensuring academic continuity for them. To help them sail through this tide of economic downturn, the college took a series of steps and launched multiple initiatives to help the students.

The burden of financial challenges faced by them was so great that over 5% of students had requested the college to cancel their admission as they would be unable to pay the requisite fee. Such students were encouraged to continue their studies and were offered scholarships and other financial support to be able to do so. The college also announced a 50% fee concession for students who lost their parents due to COVID-19, to extend a supporting hand in their struggle during the pandemic. The college also distributed dry ration kits among students from very poor backgrounds to help them overcome the economic hardships faced by their families due to lockdown and loss of livelihood.

Bridging the Digital Divide

Another major challenge for the students of Sacred Heart College for Women, Bangalore, was the digital divide. Coming from poor families, most students didn’t have access to phones or computers on which they could attend online classes and continue their studies. Even for a few students who had access to devices internet connectivity was a major problem.

To address this challenge and ensure that students can continue learning amid the lockdown, the college provided students with computers and systems. Moreover, the college also offered in-house computers and a Wi-Fi facilities to the students for attending online classes. For students who didn’t have stable internet connectivity or missed attending the classes due to low data balance or power cuts, online lectures were recorded and sent to them later on. Thanks to these efforts of the college, students of Sacred Heart College for Women put up an exceptional performance in the exams overcoming all odds. The growth in overall pass percentage during the pandemic stands as proof of the impact that these small but very critical initiatives had on the life of students.

Faculty Development Initiatives

Along with students, faculty members were also hit with the pandemic and its impact could be seen on their lives as well. The sudden switch to online or virtual classrooms was not an easy one for even the faculty members, many of whom were not too aware or familiar with digital tools and techniques of online learning. To help them shift to digital classrooms, students were given adequate training on using different platforms of virtual teaching. Creation of video lectures, PPTs, Digital Study Materials, and Video Recording of their sessions which can be used later on by students to refer while studying. Moreover, for faculty members who were suffering financially, a loan facility was also provided to help them sail through the tough times.

Awards and Accolades

Ms. Deepa Muthu has been appreciated and acknowledged for her efforts by several independent agencies. Some of the key awards and recognitions received by her are:

• Most Promising Degree College of the Year-2020 award by National Educational Excellence Award: Sacred Heart Degree College has received the prestigious award for its contribution to Quality Education and Women Empowerment.
• Most 50 Promising Degree College of the year -2020 award by National Educational Excellence Award and Conference.
• Best Degree College for Women awarded by the Global Triumph Foundation at World Education Conclave-2021.
• Best Performing Institutional Award by International Business Council, New Delhi on 5 May 2021.
• “Leading and Most Trusted Women’s Degree College of the Year 2021, Karnataka" under “Innovative Teaching Approach, Outstanding Administration, Excellent Results & Social Contribution” Category for the year 2021 on 23 September 2021 by BEGIN UP RESEARCH INTELLIGENCE PVT. LTD at Taj West End, Bangalore.

The Way Ahead…

With the pandemic impact receding by the day, the Sacred Heart College for Women, Bangalore has also transitioned into hybrid mode. Ms. Muthu is now trying to help students and faculty members to adapt to the new normal. In the near future, the college plans to empower its students to only excel in academics but also empower them to shine in other key aspects as well. The college has also been promoting students to take up diploma and certificate courses which are available online along with their regular degree level studies. The college has also introduced some in-house virtual certificate programmes that students can take advantage of to groom their skills and be job-ready.

Ms. Deepa Muthu is a finalist for the Outstanding Educational Leader Award Because… during the 2^nd wave of COVID-19, she empowered her students and faculty members to persevere against all odds and overcome financial and economic challenges to continue their studies and excel.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Deepa Muthu Click Here.

COVID-19 was an unprecedented crisis that had an adverse impact on education. While lockdowns and health measures implemented to contain the spread of the pandemic helped contain the situation; it was school children who were hit the hardest. In such an environment, the onus of ensuring the mental, physical and academic well-being of students rested on the Education Fraternity. Rising to the occasion, Ms. Alka Kapur - Principal of Modern Public School, launched a series of activities and initiatives to boost the holistic development of students during the COVID-19 induced lockdown.

Her efforts have helped transform Modern Public School into an example for other educational institutions to learn how to turn setbacks into comebacks. She, along with her team, ensured that the academic and psychological needs of students were met in the best possible manner.

Mind Wars – Multiplatform Knowledge Programme with Zee Entertainment

COVID-19 was a tough time for students, especially when it comes to mental growth and well-being. With changes in the way they studied, lived, and interacted with people around them, young children needed some time to adjust to the ‘New Normal’. To help familiarize them with the same, Modern Public School Launched Mind Wars, a Multiplatform Knowledge Programme in collaboration with Zee Entertainment.

This first-of-its-kind initiative offered an open platform for students to benchmark themselves against their peers on a national scale using multi-platform testing platforms across three content segments – Curriculum, General Knowledge, and Current Affairs. These daily quizzes broadened the horizons and knowledge of every student during these unprecedented times.

Mental Health Webinars

Being cooped up within the 4 walls took a toll on the mental health of young students. To address this situation, Ms. Alka Kapur held a series of webinars on Education, Mental Health, and Mental Well Being. As part of this initiative, she also created a World Record for conducting the World’s largest Talk show with an assemblage of 6000 people by the World Book of Records, United Kingdom.

JOYBOX Drive

#JOYBOX Drive was organized under the aegis of Interact Club wherein students volunteered and prepared gift boxes containing food, clothes, toys, decorative items, and other articles. These Joy Boxes were then distributed among the needy and less privileged sections of society.

Adhyan – Readers and Writers Club

Adhyan- The Readers & Writers Club was launched in September 2020 to make the students realize how the Power of Pen is directly related to happiness and well-being. Since its inception, the online sessions are organized weekly wherein the students are free to express themselves and provide an outlet to their long-suppressed thoughts.

Utkarsh - Entrepreneur Club

During the pandemic, Modern Public School launched Utkarsh – the Entrepreneur Club, in a completely virtual or online format. The club was aimed at helping MPS students hone their entrepreneurship skills. The central premise for setting up a virtual entrepreneur club was to engage students in constructive tasks instead of regular and routine academic work.

Muskurahat – Student Helpline

COVID-19 Lockdown was a tough time for students. Confined to the four walls of their homes, students couldn’t find an avenue to talk, connect and interact with their peers. To provide such a space, Modern Public School Launched Muskurahat, the students’ Helpline. The helpline became an instant hit where students were free to express their thoughts, ideas, worries, and concerns without any preconceptions. The helpline helped build a strong bond between students and teachers which was important for their emotional and mental wellbeing as well as academic performance.

Skill-Based Learning

Skill-based learning is another area where ample time and resources are invested by Modern Public School. For middle school students, different clubs were introduced such as Science and Electronics Club, Eco Club, Interact Club, Performing and Visual Arts Club, Astronomy Club, etc. Students were invited to participate in different activities organized by these clubs based on their interests. In addition to this, counselling sessions were also held under the guidance of alumni to help students decode a vast ocean of opportunities to hone their skills.

Library On Wheels

During Covid when students were not able to reach the school, Ms. Alka Kapur ensured that the school library reached them instead. To do so, she introduced Library on Wheels, Science on Wheels initiatives, wherein school buses were used as mobile classrooms and theme-based learning activities were organized right at their doorsteps.

Student Development Activities

Along with regular academic sessions, Ms. Alka Kapur also held different sessions on Astronomy, ATL, MUNs, Performing, and Visual Arts to empower students emotionally. Apart from this regular yoga sessions, Aerobics, and other engaging activities are held to boost students’ kinesthesia. A virtual summer camp was organized by Modern Public School which brimmed with fun and frolic was organized for the students to retain smiles on their faces during testing times of Corona Pandemic. Other development activities for students included War of Words, Observing PoshaanMah, Hindi Diwas, that involved students for their better.

Faculty Development Activities

As the adage goes, a leader is only as good as their team; with this philosophy, Ms. Alka Kapur also laid prime emphasis on Faculty Development Activities on campus. As part of this, Modern Public Initiative organized regular training, webinar, and workshop for faculty development. The workshops focused on helping teachers in developing the core competencies of the students and evolving a nurturing environment for learning.

Faculty members at MPS were also given training on online tools and digital platforms that can be used to enrich their teaching pedagogy and improve learning outcomes. Even before the pandemic hit, faculty members at MPS were already well versed in holding virtual classes and online sessions via Microsoft Teams and holding virtual classes through flip teaching practices. This proactive approach allowed the stakeholders to adopt themselves to interact and collaborate even in remote learning scenarios

Ms. Alka Kapur is a finalist for the Outstanding Educational Leader Award Because… during COVID-19 she launched a series of innovative initiatives and measures to help students adapt to the new normal in times of crisis. She, along with her team, ensured that the holistic development of the students continued during and after the pandemic.

To Reach the Information Dossier Shared by Alka Kapur Click Here.