More than one crore school students from Classes 6 to 12 across India took part in a two-hour live innovation session under the Viksit Bharat Buildathon (VBB) 2025. The event was inaugurated by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in New Delhi.
Students from over three lakh schools joined the live session. Working in small teams, they shared ideas, designed creative solutions, and built prototypes on four themes — Vocal for Local, Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India), Swadeshi (indigenous), and Samriddh Bharat (prosperous India). Officials said it was the largest innovation hackathon ever held for school students in India.
The highest participation came from Uttar Pradesh, with students from 78,206 schools joining. Maharashtra followed with 41,198 schools, and Gujarat came next with 20,017 schools.
The Buildathon is a joint initiative of the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL) under the Education Ministry and NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM). It aims to encourage students to think creatively and design products that support the vision of a Developed India (Viksit Bharat) by 2047.
In his address, Dharmendra Pradhan praised the students’ enthusiasm. He said the ideas born from this event could help India find new solutions to national and global challenges. “A Viksit and Samriddh Bharat will be built on the shoulders of our talented school students,” he said.
The minister also interacted with students from PM SHRI Government High School, Khorda (Odisha), Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, and PM SHRI Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 2, Delhi Cantt. He viewed several student projects and even sat in a Class 1 session to learn basic numbers along with the children.
Sanjay Kumar, Secretary of the Department of School Education and Literacy, said the initiative will improve learning and help students develop innovative thinking skills.
Schools can submit their projects on the VBB portal till October 31, 2025. Entries will be reviewed from November 1 to December 31, and the best teams will be awarded in January 2026. The Education Ministry has also announced a ₹1 crore prize pool for the winners — including 1,000 district-level, 100 state-level, and 10 national-level awards.
The Viksit Bharat Buildathon 2025 highlights India’s growing culture of innovation and the government’s efforts to empower students to build a stronger, self-reliant nation.
