Srinagar, June 09: Three students from the Govt. Higher Secondary School in Kreeri, in the Baramulla district of North Kashmir created a novel, reasonably priced apple grader to allay the concerns of farmers.
The 12th-grade students Shakir Ahmad, Adnan Mushtaq, and Furqan Rashid, who all come from farming families, were moved by the concerns that farmers have had since their childhood.
Atal Tinkering Lab, established in 2019 at Kreeri High School, made the apple grader project a reality after years of labour. It was first govt. school in Baramulla district where the lab was started.
The students took part in the National Technology Week last month, which took place from May 11 to May 14 and was inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi to honour the nation’s technological achievements.
The interaction between the prime minister and the Atal Tinkering Labs students, during which he urged young minds to innovate and advance the country, was the event’s high point.
The ATL’s in-charge, Javid Ahmad Dar, stated at National Technology Week that the project was among the top 20 products and that it was the third project in a row to be on display.
He said the students displayed the project at the event along with students across the country bringing laurels to the institute. The participation encouraged the students.
“The students came up with the idea and they worked on it at the school. The design of the project is functional and the actual product will be ready in the next six months to make it a working model,” Dar said.
The outcome is the apple grader, a portable device that effectively cleans and grades apples, giving farmers a much-needed tool to evaluate and market their harvest on their own.
“The students are from farming background. There are many issues with the apple industry. The device can help farmers and ease them during the harvest season as we are not using technology after the harvest,” he said. “This is a happy movement for us. The students have now developed their intelligence,” he said.
Dar said the role of ATL is very important and in future, there would be a transformation in the country’s education system because of these labs.
“It is aimed to foster creativity, imagination in young minds. It is trusted to boost ideas of students. I suggest that the ATL should be part of curriculum and daily timetable,” he said.
He said ATL should be compulsory for the students adding that even if students spent some time they will be able to know and explore things in a proper way.
The teacher who guides students in ATL lab said the school has become an innovative centre for learning for the students.
“We work hard and it will take some time to improve more. We are utilizing the maximum existing resources and we are planning more projects,” he said.
Last year, among the 31,000 schools of India, the Kreeri School made it to the top 10 list at “2022 Youth Ideation” for its innovative idea of refining portable and low-cost apple grading system of new entrepreneurship.
