Srinagar, April 17: Jammu and Kashmir made history as the first Union Territory in India to initiate the Toycathon project in 2023, which was a creative initiative for designing innovative toys without any cost.
The Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education, Parikshat Singh Manhas told Rising Kashmir that although Prime Minister Narendra Modi had started two Toycathon initiatives, it was Jammu and Kashmir that really took the initiative forward.
An impressive number of 125,000 students from 9,500 schools participated, and 5,600 contests were organized at various levels, he said adding that out of these, 115 student-created toy designs were successfully patented, with the patent fees being covered by sponsorship.
The project earned fame that it became the part of the book titled “the art of implementation” (an anthology of research based articles) as whole chapter which was launched by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in presence of Lieutenant Governor Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha.
Parikshat said that Toycathon 2023 was led by J&K Board of School Education and SCERT J&K for realizing an aspiration, actively working towards creating something extraordinary. Toycathon 2023 marked the inaugural implementation of its kind in Bharat by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and draws inspiration from the groundbreaking Toycathon, an initiative that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched on January 5, 2021.
He said that it was organized by SCERT to support vital initiatives in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and saw thousands of participants from various institutions in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The objectives of Toycathon were aligned with NEP 2020 objectives wherein we must increase the global popularity of our indigenous creation and, here, the toys, which are in harmony with nature and tradition”, he added.
Parikshat said that since the objective of Toycathon was to establish Bharat as a toy manufacturing centre and reduce toy imports, there by contributing to the development the “Toyoconomy,” the students of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir were given the chance to innovate, design, and conceptualize toys.
Toycathon 2023 focused on educating students and faculty about the significance and function of toys and games in fostering an enjoyable, productive, experiential learning and teaching environment. The initiative aimed to cultivate ingenuity, inquisitiveness, and novelty among the youthful and fresh-minded residents of the Union Territory.
Parikshat further said that the 2023 Toycathon encouraged school children to think outside the box when designing toys and to make them from locally sourced materials.
These criteria had to be met and the products had to be eco-friendly, encourage curiosity and critical thinking, help students learn valuable life skills, and be high-quality but reasonably priced, he added.
The event also sought to explore the capacity of children to establish and maintain a creative ecosystem that fosters the creation of effective games and toys that promote self-reliance.
The office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, and TradeMarks (CGPDTM) has offered IP training under the National IP Awareness Mission over 1.23 Lakh Toycathon registered participants, explaining to them the objectives of the mission to learn what is intellectual property and why it is important to protect, it is high time to realize the value of intellectual property and how this can be protected, he added.
