TINKER CHAMPS

A unique initiative by the students and for the students

Tinker Champs is a student-driven and mentor-assisted programme to groom young change-makers among ATL (and non-ATL) students.

As part of this programme, the participating students bring their tinkering skills, problem-solving skills, innovative skills, and entrepreneurial skills to make a positive difference among their peers and contribute to their communities. They work collaboratively across geographies - spanning different schools, towns, cities, and states of India. They leverage online collaboration tools and platforms extensively to engage with one another, with their mentors, schools, and their peers. They also seek the guidance and support of their school teachers, mentors, and parents in driving their initiatives.

Over the last 3 years, the Tinker Champ students have been conducting webinars, workshops, boot camps, maker faires, and mentoring sessions on a variety of topics to upskill thousands of school students across the country in new-age skills that are not taught in the traditional schooling system.

In addition, Tinker Champ students are also undertaking initiatives in several Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) areas (including climate change) to demonstrate the power of school students to change the world. Through their initiatives and actions, they aspire to become "Change Makers" of the world.

Tinker Champs envision a future where students become young change-makers by taking initiatives & actions of their own to make a positive impact around them. Their mission is to instill passion & purpose among ATL students and empower them with knowledge, skills, resources & mentoring support to drive positive changes among their fellow students.

The Tinker Champs are being supported and guided in their endavours by their Mentors: Mr. Kiran Kumar H S (RMoC Karnataka) and Mr. Phaneendra J (MoC Andhra Pradesh).

Seeing what students are capable of, their initiatives are being actively encouraged and promoted by teachers, parents, and school authorities in different parts of the country. The Tinker Champs have also been invited by several schools to deliver peer-led learning programs within their premises.

Recognizing their initiatives and actions, Atal Innovation Mission has provided them several opportunities in the last few years to mentor thousands of student participants attending the ATL Tinkerpreneur and ATL Marathon programs.

Today, the Tinker Champs are considered pioneers, leaders, and role models for fellow students in their schools. Through their efforts at promoting self-learning, peer-learning, shared-learning, and mentor-assisted learning among school students, the Tinker Champs are disrupting and transforming the education system in the country. What started as a small initiative 3 years ago has now spread wings and is becoming a powerful movement for positive change - driven by the students and for the students!

In summary, the Tinker Champ programme has been very successful in providing an empowering platform for school students to express themselves, acquire 21st-century skills, and become change agents for transforming India - through action in the real world (in addition to action in the ATLs)!

WHO ARE THE TINKER CHAMPS?

Tinker Champs are champions of tinkerers in their ATLs. They hail from different cities and states from across India. Around 19 students came together to form the National Tinker Champ Club about 3 years ago, and ever since, they have been driving a variety of student-led initiatives to spread a culture of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship among the larger student community within and outside their schools.

Aditri Bhatnagar

Yuvati Jangra

Satvika Nemani

Sree Raksha Prabakaran

Meghana Doddipalle

Saanvi Naazre

Muskan Mehak

Shreyas S Bhat

Jeya Malhotra

Syed Sadiya

Lavanya Adhikari

Paulastya Chakraborthy

Kavana C. Gowda

D. Varshini

Srishti Purohit

Shaikh Sheema Farheen

Jayadith Eluru

Muniba Muzmeen

Aarush Sahai

KNOW MORE ABOUT TINKER CHAMPS HERE....

Tinker champs have been conducting webinars, panel discussions, competitions, workshops, maker faires, and boot camps on a variety of skills that are relevant to ATL students. These include digital technology skills, design-thinking skills, creative writing skills, storytelling skills, entrepreneurial skills, financial literacy skills, and change-making skills. They have also developed tinkering support tools and ATL web portals to assist our fellow tinkerers. In addition, they have also contributed eLearning resources to ATL Tinkerpreneur boot camp and conducted mentoring sessions for thousands of bootcamp participants in 2022 and 2023. Tinker Champs have even built a product called “BizBox” to teach entrepreneurial skills to school students from rural and semi-urban areas.

Furthermore, they have organized themselves into school-level and national-level "Tinker Champ Clubs" to drive various student-led initiatives of their own.

A few Tinker Champs have even conducted programmes to upskill their teachers! As their initiatives are “by the students and for the students”, they are democratizing the learning experience at ATLs. They call our initiatives “change-making initiatives” as they are bringing about a positive change in how student tinkerers at ATLs are learning from each other, acquiring 21st-century skills in the process, and playing a crucial role in transforming the education system in our country.

Tinker Champs are driven by passion and purpose to transform our country through student-led initiatives. They have impacted more than 50,000 students through their initiatives and actions in the last 3 years. Today, Tinker Champs are being hailed as pioneers: trend-setters and young change makers by their schools, teachers and mentors.

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY

CHANGE MAKING?

Change making is the intentional effort to create positive improvements in society, the environment through purposeful initiatives, actions and collaboration. Imagine you have a new student at your ATL. She is stuck in her tinkering project and is seeking help. You volunteer to guide her and get her to complete her project. Soon, more budding tinkerers come asking for your assistance. You use your spare time in the school to guide them. Realizing your potential to guide your fellow students, your teacher urges you to conduct a short training session for your buddies. You do this, and is soon recognized as the “go-to guy” in your ATL circle.

Take another example. You find a bully in your class. You take steps to stop the bully and start a drive against bullying in your school. It creates a positive change around you and your mates. You take necessary actions to ensure anti-bullying and finally collaborate with your friends and teachers to have a peaceful environment in your school. Both these are examples of CHANGE MAKING initiatives.

Greta Thunberg

Malala Yousufzai

Upsana Ravikannan

Have you heard about Greta Thunberg, Malala Yousafzai and Upsana Ravikannan?

They all are leading change makers who are trying to bring improvements in the society through their initiatives and actions in different ways. Greta Thunberg is a climate activist, Malala Yousafzai and Upsana Ravikannan are educational activists. Do you also want to become one of them?

Becoming a Tinker Champ

Do you want to taste our secret sauce to success and stardom? Or, more clearly, become a Champion of Tinkerers in your ATL? Do you want to become a young Change Maker? More specifically, do you want to become a Tinker Champ?

We are on the lookout for young tinkerers who have the “can-do” spirit, leadership potential, self-drive, motivation and commitment to join us and take small initiatives of your own in your school or community to make a positive impact on your fellow students, peers, or friends.

At present, we are inviting promising school students in classes 6 to 12 to join the Tinker Champs initiative through referral from Mentors. At a later stage, we plan to open the Tinker Champ programme to both ATL and Non-ATL school students across India.

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