Over 1 Crore Students Joined India's Biggest School Hackathon Ever — Viksit Bharat Buildathon 2025
India's biggest school hackathon breaks records with over 1 crore student innovators.
In a historic display of youthful innovation, over 1 crore school students from Classes 6 to 12 participated in the two-hour live session of the Viksit Bharat Buildathon (VBB) 2025, inaugurated by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in New Delhi. Officials confirmed that it was India’s largest synchronised innovation hackathon for school students.
Students from more than 3 lakh schools across the country formed teams of three to five members to ideate, design, and build prototypes based on four core themes — vocal for local, Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India), swadeshi (indigenous), and samriddh Bharat (prosperous India). The initiative, jointly run by the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL) and NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission, is aimed at fostering creativity and problem-solving skills in line with India’s vision of becoming a developed nation by 2047.
According to the Education Ministry, Uttar Pradesh led the participation list, with 78,206 schools joining the event, followed by Maharashtra with 41,198 schools, and Gujarat with 20,017 schools.
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Addressing the inaugural session, Pradhan expressed confidence that the solutions emerging from the Buildathon would “pave the way for creating new global models and finding solutions to pressing domestic and global challenges.” He interacted with students at PM SHRI Government High School in Khorda, Bhubaneswar, as well as Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, and PM SHRI Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 2 in Delhi Cantt., where he observed hands-on student projects and even joined a Class 1 mathematics lesson.
Sanjay Kumar, Secretary at DoSEL, hailed the event as “one-of-a-kind,” saying it would boost students’ learning capabilities and strengthen their innovative thinking.
Entries for VBB 2025 can be submitted on the official portal until October 31. Expert evaluation will follow from November 1 to December 31, with winners to be announced in January 2026. The Union Education Ministry has set aside a ₹1 crore prize pool to honor 1,000 district-level, 100 state-level, and 10 national-level winning teams.
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