Union Minister of State for Education, Shri Jayant Chaudhary today felicitated 10 National level winning teams and innovators of Viksit Bharat Buildathon (VBB) 2025 in New Delhi. The Guinness World Records certification for VBB 2025 as the “Largest Innovation Solution Competition,” was also presented at the function, marking a historic milestone for school education and grassroots innovation in India. As part of the Event, the Minister also launched the ‘Guidelines for Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) under ULLAS – Nav Bharat Saaksharta Karyakram’. He also distributed prizes to the student winners of the quiz competition based on e-waste.
Addressing the Event, Shri Jayant Chaudhary reiterated the importance of fostering confidence, creativity, innovation and independent thinking among children to mould them into future leaders. Highlighting the Buildathon Initiative, he noted that students were encouraged to identify problems and develop solutions independently, without predefined problems or solutions. He appreciated the participation of lakhs of students nationwide and acknowledged the role of teachers in mentoring and guiding them.
Expressing concern at the growing challenge of e-waste, Shri Chaudhary stressed on the need to involve schoolchildren in addressing it, thereby paving the way for its systematic management. He added that it was the shared responsibility of institutions, communities and citizens to address the issue.
Acknowledging the role of ULLAS in promoting adult literacy and restoring learners' dignity and confidence, he said that the new Guidelines would enable student teachers to play a vital role in empowering the nation.
Secretary, DARPG, Ms. Nivedita Shukla Verma; Secretary, DoSEL, Shri T. K. Anil Kumar; senior officials of the Ministry of Education; representatives and heads of autonomous bodies, education departments of States/UTs and partner institutions, attended the Event.
Organised by the Department of School Education & Literacy (DoSEL), Union Ministry of Education, in collaboration with Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, and the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), VBB 2025 was initiated to foster creative problem-solving, entrepreneurship, and scientific curiosity among school students. Centred around four foundational pillars—Atmanirbhar Bharat, Swadeshi, Vocal for Local, and Samriddh Bharat—the Initiative witnessed an unprecedented grassroots response, recording 2,87,967 project submissions across both Idea and Prototype tracks.
To evaluate the solutions, a rigorous, three-tier assessment framework was instituted at the district, state and national levels led by multidisciplinary expert panels. Following comprehensive evaluations, 10 national awardees, 100 state awardees and 1,000 district awardees were selected.
An award pool of over ₹1 crore was instituted across district, state and national levels. The 10 national winning teams were awarded a total cash prize of ₹17.50 lakhs . Under the Prototype Track, each of the five top winning teams was awarded ₹2,50,000, recognizing their functional working models. Each of the five winning teams under the Idea Track received ₹1,00,000 to encourage the incubation and scaling of their creative concepts. The winners who were felicitated today belonged to Assam, Delhi, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Keralam, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
Initiatives taken by both the Departments (DoSEL and the Department of Higher Education) under the Ministry under Special Campaign 6.0 highlighting the efforts to generate awareness about e-waste and e-waste collection endeavours, were presented at the Event. Secretary, DOSEL, Shri Anil Kumar also handed over the e-waste collected during the Campaign to the authorised recycler/refurbisher.
Under the Campaign, DoSEL had undertaken extensive drives to promote responsible e-waste management in schools across the country. Several activities were organised in schools today, including handing over of collected e-waste to authorised recyclers/refurbishers, e-waste-themed morning assemblies and e-waste based quizzes.
The ‘Guidelines for Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) under ULLAS – Nav Bharat Saaksharta Karyakram’ released at the Event, envisages the participation of student teachers enrolled in NCTE-recognised teacher education programmes such as B.Ed., B.P.Ed., M.Ed., M.P.Ed. and other recognised programmes as Volunteer Teachers.
Under the 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. Developed by DoSEL after extensive consultations with concerned stakeholders, the Guidelines also clearly define the roles and responsibilities of NCTE, NCERT, CNCL, SCERTs, DIETs, State Literacy Mission Authorities (SLMAs), District Authorities, TEIs and student teachers for effective implementation.