The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in collaboration with AICTE has launched ‘Innovation Ambassador Programme’ to train teachers and students using various creative activities. This programme is currently being used by AICTE as an Skill development initiative in its engineering and technology colleges.
This programme is introduced as an step towards the implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. NEP has laid more importance on training mentors such that they can guide the students to pursue innovation and entrepreneurship. The policy also emphasizes to cater the ideology of creative-thinking and problem-solving among students.
The idea of Innovation Ambassador Programme was first conceptualised by Ministry of Education. While AICTE is the first Educational Body to adopt the programme for mentoring its students and faculties. Now CBSE has introduced this initiative to train the teachers in affiliated schools.This will further help in nurturing the students at school level.
The Innovation cell of AICTE has modified the programme and has designed 5 modules for the training of teachers. The modules are formulated to be more relatable with the modern concepts of applicable in higher education. This five modules are;
- Design Thinking & Innovation
- Idea generation & Ideal hand-holding
- Intellectual property rights
- Product and prototype development
- Finance, Sales and HR
While explaining about the Innovation Ambassador training Programme, the chief innovation officer of AICTE, Dr. Abhay Jere said that the primary aim of this initiative is to promote the culture of innovation among indian students. This online will not only introduce the students to advance concepts, but will also foster their creativity and ideas.
The new education policy forces to step over the conventional methodologies of teaching and learning and implement skills like critical thinking and problem solving. Indian education system must not be kept limited to marks, assessments and examinations. Rather then it should be made a vibrant culture enriched with practical knowledge.