Education is not just about learning facts or developing logical skills. It is also about empathy, imagination, inclusivity, collegiality and playfulness. It is not surprising that a large number of children who may be academically bright feel lost when faced with situations of ambiguity, ambivalence and uncertainty.

The IGNITE competition is organised by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) every year to uncover the creative talent of children. On November 10, we also met some of the kids who sent absurd ideas and others who were also very imaginative. Not many people may have read a book of absurd poetry by Sukumar Ray, titled Abol Tabol. We decided to recognise that children capable of absurd thinking. Let me share the ideas of IGNITE awardees who were students of classes 8-12.

Amab from West Bengal was pained by the fact that rickshaw pullers face a lot of stress when there is a slight elevation on the road. He suggested a supplementary pedal for the passenger who may wish to share the burden and co-pedal the rickshaw. Mansi from Jharkhand was equally empathetic. She noticed that while boarding the rickshaw, many old people and women face difficulty. She suggested adding folding steps.

Many children notice that many people don’t carry the driving licence while driving the car. Krishna Kumar of Tamil Nadu suggested that a car should not start unless a valid licence is inserted. Durgesh and Varsha from Bihar and Joyti from Haryana also suggested the same idea. Earlier, Ravi Ranjan and Shiv Shankar from Bihar too were concerned about the same problem.  Apparently, children all over the country are voting against the irresponsible behaviour of the adults.

Survesh from Tamil Nadu has thought up a sunglass with an inbuilt camera for blind persons. The camera will capture the image of the person they meet for the first time and record the name. The next time they meet the same person, the image processing software will recognize the face and tell his name to the blind person.

Jeevan Sidharth of Tamil Nadu did not like the burden that construction workers have to carry on their head. He has suggested helmets with cushions inside. Ankita (Punjab) and Himanshu (Gujarat) have noticed a very serious problem of the modern day: the increasing incidence of stress among children. They have suggested a device to monitor mental stress while studying so that they can take a break at threshold levels. 

Given the pervasive use of mobile phones, isn’t it strange that we don’t have a device for transferring energy charge from one mobile to another?  This is what has been suggested by Ravi, Sanjay and Manoj from Haryana. A prototype is being developed and the patent filing is under process. 

Many people live in very small houses where sparing separate space, say even one square metre, for toilet is not easy. People have to use common toilets. Shweta from Uttar Pradesh has suggested a kind of retractable toilets which can be folded into the wall like a closet after use and taken out when needed.

It will need new fittings but will save space. Ektapreet from Punjab has suggested a new kind of painting brush in which the same brush can have an arrangement for changing the number of hairs at the tip. One doesn’t need many brushes for the purpose.  Rishabh (J&K) has suggested solar panels embedded in the tent, which can become a raft when needed. The tent will also keep warm in the night. 

One of the most difficult problems that the traffic police face every day is the asymmetrical distribution of traffic load in the morning and the evening.  Siddharth of Uttarakhand has suggested an amazingly cute idea. If the road dividers become movable, the width of the road can be changed in the morning and evening to facilitate a better traffic flow. The dividers can be moved leftward or rightward. 

It is so apparent from these ideas that our children are reacting constructively and imaginatively to the problems that we have learnt to live with. Many of the problems are well recognised by us but frugal innovative solutions elude us. Grassroots innovations by children demonstrate how empathy can be converted into perception, perception into definition of the problem, definition dividing the problems into solvable parts and creativity converts parts into a holistic solution.

I am very happy to mention that the CEO of Wishtel.com, Milind, read my previous column and decided to gift a mini tablet to every IGNITE winner containing all the past innovations and other content of the Honey Bee Network including the back issues of the newsletter for the last 25 years. I hope more institutions come forward to support the platform, purpose, with passion to increase the national and international performance of our creative children.