Jammu and Kashmir State Council of Educational Research and Training Holds the Grand Finale of Toycathon 2023

SRINAGAR September 17: Taking a Giant leap towards the mission of ‘Atma Nirbar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’, the Jammu and Kashmir State Council of Educational Research and Training celebrated the grand finale of ToyCathon-2023 on 18.9.2023 in the main auditorium of SCERT-JK, Bemina, Srinagar. The Chief Guest for the event was Sh. Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, advisor to honorable LG Jammu and Kashmir. Sh. Alok Kumar, IRS, Principal Secretary School Education JK was the special guest. The Director JKSCERT Prof (Dr.) Parikshat Singh Manhas welcomed the guests before the formal commencement of the event. The event of same nature was held at Krishi Bhawan Talab Tillo Jammu for the participants of the Jammu division. Thus this program was held simultaneously in both the divisions.

In the morning the Exhibition of grand finale of Toycathon was inaugurated by Prof Dr. Parikshat Singh Manhas and he welcomed the dignitaries, guests, DIET Principals, escort teachers and the participating students. Prof Manhas also presented the concept note in which the aims, objectives and outcomes of the whole Toycathon 2023 were highlighted. He said the enthusiasm of the students during the Toycathon surprised us by moving beyond the innovations to inventions.

While speaking at the grand ceremony function advisor Shri Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar congratulated the Students and the whole Toycathon team under the mentorship of Prof Dr. Parikshat Sing Manhas. The advisor to honorable LG said that it was the first hand experience and a grand opportunity to meet the young minds in the exhibition and to know the tremendous talent. He said that it is the need of the hour to support and promote these kinds of programmes in future.

Principal Secretary School Education Department JK, Shri Alok Kumar (IRS) delivered an inspirational speech in which he said that through  the regional resources and local heritage we can have the best toy making art which will support the local needs and also help in the economic emancipation and economic prosperity. He said that to have innovative minds and to challenge the fixed boundaries, the students must be encouraged to be the part of the Toycathon in future too.

Welcoming all the guests, Prof. Parikshat Singh Manhas, Director, State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and Chairman, J&K Board of School Education highlighted the importance and need of toys and games for making education holistic, joyful and experiential. He impressed upon the initiative of designing toys and games to leverage the potential of toys and games in making learning engaging and enjoyable across all ages. He gave a detailed account of the Event which was held under the theme ‘Promotion of Innovative Ideas and Revival of Local Heritage’ and kick-started on the 12th of May 2023  under three categories i.e. class 6th to 8th, class 9th to 10th, and class 11th to 12th.In all, there were 123728 registrations from the twenty Districts of the UT of J&K. SCERT-JK got 74,869 registrations for the first category, 37,794 registrations for the second category, and 11065 for the third category. The three phases of the Toycathon2023 competitions before this grand finale were organized at:

1.   School level competition 

2.   Online Scrutiny at the District level

3.   Exhibition and Selection at district level

The JKSCERT Initiative of Toycathon2023 focused on creating awareness among the students and teachers to realize the importance and role of toys and games to make the learning-teaching process joyful, effective, and experiential. The concept for the preparation of toys/games for the Toycathon event was based on regional Culture- historical events, heritage, and regional freedom fighters, thinking out of the box, logical and scientific thinking, learning, education and schooling, social and human values, occupation and its specific fields, environment, rediscovering traditional local toys, any toy/ game applicable for specially-abled child and fun based toys for joyful learning. The initiative was an activity to foster creativity, curiosity, and innovation among the fresh and young minds of UT of JK.  

During the Final exhibition at Jammu as well as at Srinagar 193 students installed their stalls and showcased the design of innovative toys. The Advisor, Principal Secretary and the Director JKSCERT visited every stall and talked the students at each stall in Kashmir. The jury members too assessed the toys, their design, the making, materials and human friendliness as the parameters.

Shri Naseer Ahmad Wani, Special secretary to Government School Education Department J&K, Er. Deep Raj State Projector Director Samagra Shiksha, Shri Mohammad Rouf Rehman, Joint Director Central DSEK also graced the occasion at Srinagar and inspired the participating students in the grand finale.

The event held at Krishi Bhawan Talab Tillo Jammu was attended by Director Finance Iftikhar Hussain, Special Secretary Anu Behl, Joint Director SCERT J&K H. R. Pakhroo, Joint Director DSEJ Subah Mehta, secretary JKBOSE Manisha Sarin and Joint Director Planning SED Parshotam Kumar

The event was anchored by Dr. Nazneen Mehraj, Ms. Asima Farooq Shah and Ms. Monica Sharma.