The Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan formally launched Viksit Bharat Buildathon 2025, a national innovation challenge aimed at school students across India.
The initiative is designed to encourage creativity, problem-solving, and grassroots innovation by engaging students and schools to build tangible prototypes and projects aligned with national goals.
Organised by the Department of School Education & Literacy (DoSEL) under the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, and AICTE, the Buildathon aims to reach students from roughly 1.5 lakh schools and involve over one crore participants.
OBJECTIVE AND VISION
Viksit Bharat Buildathon is being touted as one of India’s largest school hackathons. The participation numbers will be over 12 crore students across six lakh schools, with more than 1,000 winners to be felicitated.
The initiative is based on four central themes: Atmanirbhar Bharat, Swadeshi, Vocal for Local, and Samriddhi, encouraging students to build solutions aligned with national priorities.
These themes emphasise local solutions, indigenous ideas, self-reliance, and prosperity.
The Buildathon also builds upon success from the School Innovation Marathon 2024, which gave rise to programmes like the Student Innovator Programme (SIP) and Student Entrepreneurship Programme (SEP), and supported patents and start-ups from Atal Tinkering Labs.
TIMELINE AND STAGES
Registration for students is open from September 23 to October 6, via the portal vbb.mic.gov.in.
From October 6 to October 13, schools will guide student teams in refining ideas and preparing prototypes. On October 13, a Live Synchronised Innovation Event will bring teams together for a two-hour real-time ideation session.
After this, teams submit final entries by October 31. Expert panels will evaluate submissions between November 1 and December 31. The top innovations (1,000+ winners) will be felicitated in January 2026.
PARTICIPATION AND IMPACT
The Buildathon is expected to involve classes 6 to 12 across India, encouraging students to work in teams of 5-7. Mentorship will be provided by incubation centres, higher education institutions, and corporate partners.
A prize pool has been earmarked, with awards distributed amongst district, state, and national level winners.
The event aims not only to foster problem-solving but also to cultivate a culture of innovation at the school level, project India as a hub for young innovators, and potentially set a world record in synchronised innovation participation.
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