SIRF Solapur to take innovation challenge to Zilla Parishad schools

October 8, 2026 /Posted byBandy EW / 0

– Ronita Torcato

The Department of Skills, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Government of Maharashtra, encourages students from across the state to participate in the Union Ministry’s ‘Seva First Innovation Challenge’, a national competition aimed at boosting innovative ideas and solutions. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced this on Tuesday at Mantralaya, the administrative headquarters in Mumbai.

The meeting was attended by Maharashtra State Innovation Society chief executive officer Dr Shrikant Patil, State Innovation and Research Foundation (SIRF), Solapur, coordinators Siddharam Mashale and Balasaheb Wagh, and minister for skills, employment, entrepreneurship and innovation Mangal Prabhat Lodha, among others.

SIRF, a national network of educators and teachers, will disseminate information about the competition to students of Zilla Parishad schools across the state with the support of the School Education Department.

The Seva First Innovation Challenge provides a platform for youth to identify real-life problems and develop solutions in areas including agriculture, law and order, water, healthcare, education, urban development, sanitation, environment, defence, transport, infrastructure and other aspects of daily life.

The application process began on September 21 and applications can be submitted until October 17 via the official portal https://sfic.co.in.

Winners will be selected from three levels in schools, colleges, ITIs and universities:

Junior: Classes VI–XII

Technical: ITI / Polytechnic

Open: Undergraduate, Postgraduate, and Research Scholars

State governments will select 50 awardees in total across the sectors. Winners will receive cash awards and citations from the Rs. 1 crore prize pool. First prize winners will be given work orders worth Rs 10 lakh each, second prize winners will get Rs 5 lakh, and third prize winners will get Rs 3 lakh.

The grand finale will be held between December 10–17, 2026, in New Delhi.

In Maharashtra, the Challenge is guided by Manisha Verma (I.A.S.), ACS, Skills, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Department; Dr Amit Saini (I.A.S.), Commissioner, Skills Development, Employment & Entrepreneurship; Dr Apoorva Palkar, Vice Chancellor, Ratan Tata Maharashtra State Skills University; and Dr Shrikant Patil, CEO, Maharashtra State Innovation Society (MSINS).

At the meeting in Mumbai, Lodha appealed to NGOs to increase participation of students from rural areas in the competition since they have “immense potential to understand local problems and find constructive solutions to them.”

“The primary objective of the Innovation Challenge is to ensure that this potential is not confined to school projects but transformed into innovations that benefit society,” he said.

He called upon stakeholders to encourage the submission of innovative ideas under various categories, including those open to women, youth and the general public. He said NGOs should prepare an action plan outlining the number of schools in their areas of operation, the number of students to whom information about the competition will be provided, and the number of applications to be submitted.

“The state government, schools and NGOs must work in coordination to provide a state-level platform for the ideas of students at the grassroots level,” he said.

SIRF Coordinator Siddharam Mashale said the Foundation helps promote quality education, technology and innovative initiatives in schools.

Those interested in the competition can also visit https://sevainnovationchallenge.in/, a platform for the Maharashtra Zone covering Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Daman & Diu and Goa.

Also read: Four students die after entering water tank at Vrindavan residential school

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“Most schools never consciously chose their basic unit. They inherited one from the past: the class. With the class as the focus, the things that happen between people get squeezed out: the apprentice learning alongside someone skilled, the child taught where they are rather than where the class is, and the daily practice of getting along with people they did not choose. The most promising new schools are organising themselves around the individual child rather than the class. A better approach is to group children by readiness in each subject and change those groups as they progress. Communication, collaboration and handling disagreement need daily practice. In a school built around individual progress, teachers get time back to observe, diagnose, mentor and step in where they are most needed. Most teachers entered the profession to make a difference to children. Many spend their careers managing classes instead. The best new schools offer them a system that finally lets them do the work they signed up for.”

- Rahul Raghavan, Economic Times, (27/10)

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- Divyansh Kumar, The Times of India, (2/11)

SIRF Solapur to take innovation challenge to Zilla Parishad schools

– Ronita Torcato

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