Open to students across schools and communities in India (and beyond, if any requests), this year Inventure Academy Changemaker Challenge will be conducted entirely online, and is aimed at exploring sustainable solutions for schools in particular, given that over a billion students have seen their education being disrupted as a result of COVID-19 (Source: Economist March 19 Edition). 

“We believe that with challenges come opportunities, and the bigger the challenge, the more there is opportunity for innovation. Our world has changed dramatically with the outbreak of COVID-19, and is continuing to change the lives of people and communities around the world every second. Apart from just somehow dealing with the current situation, we also need to make sure that we continue to work on things that are most important for our future. This includes, for example, changemaker education which enables us to learn life skills. Even before this crisis, there were hundreds of millions of children who didn’t have access to the kind of schools or learning that equips them for the opportunities and challenges of the 21^st  Century. For those attending government schools, my fear is that many will not come back to school if we don’t give them access to the benefits of a formal education ASAP. This is our opportunity to work in collaboration with the wider community, to ensure every child has access to schooling that will enable her / him to be the best version of themselves, and contribute to making the world a better place.” said Nooraine Fazal, Founding CEO & Managing Trustee of Inventure Academy. 

Given the very real possibility that students and faculty may not be able to ‘go back to regular school’ when the new academic year starts, teams will need to visualize what classes and / or schooling will look like in the age of COVID-19 and social distancing, including, what an ideal day of learning should look like, the role of teachers, parents, students, educational content creators, the government in this kind of education; how to best develop our social intelligence and maintain our emotional well-being when confined to our homes; solutions we can develop for students who do not have a smart device, or even internet connectivity; and explore if there are other ways in which education can be provided without overwhelming our bandwidth capacity. 

With the deadline for submission of project ideas set for April 12, solutions that teams explore could address one or all sections of school (from Pre Primary to Grade 12), different socio-economic sections of society, and those who do or do not have access to the net and/or smart devices. 

In the spirit of true, impactful changemaking, teams are required to do their research and make sure they get perspectives from students and teachers on what makes teaching & learning relevant, engaging and fun for them, and ultimately also prepares us all for when we are able to go back to school campuses. In addition, all project ideas and work done through the Changemaker Challenge will be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, and will be shared with members of the broader community. 

Upto 25 teams + 5 Wild Card teams (interesting but somewhat too ambitious ideas) from the entries will be selected for the next round where they will further refine their projects and pilots through workshops and mentoring on April 20 2020. These teams will then pitch their ideas to a panel of expert judges on April 24 & 25 2020. 

The Top 10 teams + 3 Wild Cards will then get to pilot their ideas over two weeks of May, and come back to present their impact on May 14 & 15. The top 3 teams will then be chosen through voting by judges and their peers. 

Total project funding of INR 5.25 lakhs is available for the teams to bring their ideas to life, and Inventure Academy is hopeful that like in previous Challenges, students from Bangalore’s schools and communities will grab this opportunity to learn new life skills, to be changemakers and shoulder our responsibility to do everything we can to help make our communities and our world a better place.