Union Minister of State for Education Shri Jayant Chaudhary felicitated 10 national level winning teams and innovators of Viksit Bharat Buildathon 2025 in New Delhi on October 28, 2026. The event marked the official entry of Viksit Bharat Buildathon 2025 into the Guinness World Records as the "Largest Innovation Solution Competition" with 287,967 project submissions, representing a historic milestone for school education and grassroots innovation in India.
The Buildathon was organized by the Department of School Education & Literacy (DoSEL) in collaboration with Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, and the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The initiative centered around four foundational pillars—Atmanirbhar Bharat, Swadeshi, Vocal for Local, and Samriddh Bharat—and aimed to foster creative problem-solving, entrepreneurship, and scientific curiosity among school students.
A rigorous three-tier assessment framework was instituted at district, state, and national levels led by multidisciplinary expert panels. Following evaluations, 10 national awardees, 100 state awardees, and 1,000 district awardees were selected from across both Idea and Prototype tracks. An award pool of over ₹1 crore was distributed across these levels, with the 10 national winning teams receiving a total cash prize of ₹17.50 lakhs. Each of the five top winning teams under the Prototype Track received ₹2,50,000 for their functional working models, while each of the five winning teams under the Idea Track received ₹1,00,000 to encourage incubation and scaling of their creative concepts. The national winners represented Assam, Delhi, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Keralam, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh.
During the event, Minister Chaudhary emphasized the importance of fostering confidence, creativity, innovation, and independent thinking among children to mold them into future leaders. He specifically expressed concern about the growing challenge of e-waste and stressed the need to involve schoolchildren in addressing it through systematic management. As part of Special Campaign 6.0, both Departments under the Ministry of Education undertook extensive drives to promote responsible e-waste management in schools across the country, including e-waste collection endeavors, themed morning assemblies, and quizzes.
The Minister also launched the 'Guidelines for Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) under ULLAS – Nav Bharat Saaksharta Karyakram', which envisages participation of student teachers enrolled in NCTE-recognized teacher education programs (B.Ed., B.P.Ed., M.Ed., M.P.Ed. and other recognized programs) as Volunteer Teachers. Under these guidelines, each student teacher will be required to facilitate the literacy and certification of five to eight non-literate learners, with provision for academic credits linked to successful learner certification. The guidelines clearly define roles and responsibilities of NCTE, NCERT, CNCL, SCERTs, DIETs, State Literacy Mission Authorities (SLMAs), District Authorities, TEIs, and student teachers for effective implementation.
Senior officials including Secretary of DARPG Ms. Nivedita Shukla Verma and Secretary of DoSEL Shri T. K. Anil Kumar attended the event along with representatives from autonomous bodies, state/UT education departments, and partner institutions.