MHRD set up the Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan(RAA)Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of School Education and Literacy.
Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan
In pursuance of the focus on connecting school based knowledge to life outside the school and making learning of Science, Mathematics a joyful and meaningful activity, to bring focus on innovation and use of technology, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has set up the Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan (RAA)- a convergent framework that
Aims at nurturing a spirit of inquiry and creativity,
Love for Science and Mathematics and
Effective use of technology amongst children and
Encourage those who show an inclination and talent for these subjects to be encouraged and Supported to heights of academic excellence and research.
Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan will target students in the age group of 6 - 18 years and in turn the execution of RAA will span across MHRD’s schematic interventions of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan in the Department of School Education & Literacy and programmes and schemes of Department of Higher Education to encourage Science, Mathematics & Technology.
Background to RAA
Science, Technology and Innovation have emerged as the major drivers of national development globally. India, with its near universalisation of access in school education and expanding Higher Education and Scientific institutions both under the government and private sectors, wants to give a direction to drive future innovations by encouraging children in exploration, discovery and innovation to support a climate of innovation by teachers and students at school level.
The Kothari Commission (1964) noted that the destiny of this country is shaped in the classrooms and laboratories of schools, colleges and universities. India’s Curriculum Framework recognises connecting knowledge to life outside the school and notes that learning takes place both within school and outside school and seeks to design learning tasks beyond textbooks and schools.
The Yashpal Committee report (1993) Learning without Burden expressed concern over the esotericisation of Science also on the tendency embedded in the syllabi and textbooks to accelerate children's mathematical skills by teaching mechanical rules at the expense of understanding.
While emphasising the primacy of the schools and classroom transactions, the RAA aims to leverage the potential for science, mathematics and technology learning in non-classroom settings. Beyond the four walls of a classroom, opportunities for science, mathematics and technology learning abound.
Accordingly, the ‘Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan (RAA)” is planned to provide nourishing and nurturing support to and a platform for schools in a dual track approach to make Science, Mathematics and Technology exciting to children and encourage them to have an enduring interest both inside classroom and outside classroom activities.
1. To enable children to become motivated and engaged in Science, Mathematics and Technology (SMT) through observation, experimentation, inference drawing, model building, rational reasoning, testability etc.
2. To create curiosity, excitement and exploration among school children in Science, Mathematics and Technology.
3. To create a culture of thinking, inventing, tinkering and doing to promote enquiry based learning in Schools.
4. To achieve learning levels appropriate to the class of study in Science and
5. To encourage and nurture schools to be incubators of Innovation.
Target Age group, Classes and Schools
Target Age group: Every child of 6-18 Years age
1. Children from Classes I to XII
2. Children of Open Schools 6-18years
3. Children of Special Schools (for disabled children)
4. Children studying in Special Training Centres (bridge programmes)
Target School /Institutions
1. State / UT Government and local body Schools
2. Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas and other Central Government Schools
3. Special Schools (for disabled children)
4. Open Schools systems of children of 6-18 years
5. Special Training Centres (bridge programmes)