Read this piece on the National Innovation Foundation's efforts to ensure that the creativity within the child prospers with time and not vanishes! Read the article on www.livemint.com here!Main pointers from the article:
- The initiative is called Ignite '08 NIF wants to instill confidence in children and help them grow as citizens who do not live with unsolved problems, but find their own unique solutions to the problems.
- Anil Gupta, executive vice-chairperson of the National Innovation Foundation and a professor at IIM, Ahmedabad speaks of the four segments of the Ignite '08 campaign.
- The first being creative and innovative solutions developed by the children. Every student would be motivated to try and develop original solutions to various problems around them during the summer vacation.
They can also submit ideas if they have not been able to convert them into physical projects. The NIF will give financial and mentoring support to complete the projects.
- The second segment consists of children identifying the problems and inefficiencies in everyday life. For instance, the cooking gas gets exhausted without any advance warning. Why couldn’t there be an indicator telling in advance how long the gas will last? They will submit these problems with possible solutions.
- The third segment is the rich traditional knowledge of India related to health, child care, women’s problems, clothes, cosmetics, haircare, construction, food processing, etc. There is an erosion in new generation’s knowledge in these areas because of lack of connectivity between grandparents and grandchildren. We will encourage children to document such knowledge.
- Finally, it’s not enough to be creative. We have to learn to appreciate others’ creativity and innovativeness. Students have to scout for the innovations and outstanding attempts to solve problems, even if unsuccessful, in the neighbourhood. It does not matter whether the innovator is educated or a school dropout.
What a laudable grand effort by the government and NIF!! Check out the nif web-site here...
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