Civic Superheroes – Helping Citizens Take Action
From potholes to garbage piles, from broken streetlights to water shortages—our cities are full of problems that affect people’s daily lives. But here’s the big question: Do most citizens know how to get these problems fixed?
In this project, you will become civic superheroes—finding out how your city’s grievance redressal system really works, then turning that knowledge into a physical awareness campaign that anyone in your community can see, read, and use.
The mission is simple: make sure every citizen knows exactly how to report a problem and get it solved. You will study how urban governance works, will investigate local issues around you, and create an awareness campaign around these issues.
You will finally create large posters for public display, which also document the complaint process for people, and explain citizens’ rights and responsibilities. Your efforts will help bring any issues to light, and will also help deal with these local problems.
Forgotten Heroes – Discovering the Lost Voices of History
History is full of hidden stories—of people who made a difference but never made it into our textbooks. These may be brave freedom fighters, visionary reformers, artists, educators, or local legends whose contributions have faded from public memory. This project invites students to become young history detectives, uncovering and celebrating the lives of their community’s forgotten heroes. Students will research and tell the story of a lesser-known historical figure whose actions helped shape their community, region, or country. The focus is on discovery, storytelling, and empathy—connecting personally with the past and understanding how everyday people can become extraordinary through courage and conviction. In this project, students will select a forgotten or under-recognized historical figure, especially from local or regional history. They will investigate their life and impact through books, articles, oral histories, family accounts, or community elders. Finally, students will create a Hero File—a creative and personal way to bring their story to life. This might include a short written biography or story, artwork or visuals that represent their journey, and a reflection on why their story still matters today. The project will conclude with “Forgotten Heroes: The Exhibit,” a special showcase where you and your classmates will share these rediscovered voices with the school community, helping everyone see how even the quietest contributions can shape history in powerful ways.
Health as Happiness
Staying healthy should be a joyful process! In this project titled “Health as Happiness”, we invite you to champion a healthy lifestyle in your school community. Your task is to create an adolescent health platform built by the students for the students to promote a healthier lifestyle at your school. The health platform should allow you to identify factors in your school environment that help students keep healthy and factors that hinder that process. Specifically, we would like you to focus on food and dietary habits and physical activity levels among the students. Do keep in mind that the platform should promote “health as happiness” thus make sure that your interventions spread kindness and joy, and not induce any stress for participants. You are encouraged to promote your local and traditional healthy foods while thinking about dietary habits. The platform can take the form of a digital app or a physical event in the school. If you choose to build an app, your final output can show the design, layout, and wireframes of the digital app. If you choose to design a physical event, you should highlight its theme, schedule, and the activities to be conducted during the event. Your final output should be submitted as a visual presentation or a written report or a video. The platform that you build in the form of an app/event should clearly serve the purpose of encouraging a healthier lifestyle in your school community.
The Economic World
According to The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), financial literacy is a core life skill for children growing up in an increasingly complex world. National surveys show that young adults have amongst the lowest levels of financial literacy with only one in four able to make the most basic financial decisions. Young adults need to develop financial skills to help choose between different career and education options and take charge of their own financial futures. This project invites you to: Assume the role of a financial expert and teacher Create learning materials to increase financial literacy among young adults (14-18 year olds) of your country As you design these learning materials, you can choose to focus on one particular topic such as budgeting, saving, investment planning (including stocks and bonds), managing education loans etc. The final output of your project can take the form of a lesson plan, textbook chapter, board game or video that helps people master your chosen topic of financial literacy. The best submissions will be the ones that make financial literacy fun and accessible for young adults.
Creativity, Empathy and Inclusive Learning
India is a land of diversity. There are over 21 Indian languages. Almost every language has its own dialect. So when we look around us, chances are that we will be able to see and hear people from very different backgrounds. While this is an extremely rewarding experience, it can be a challenge for children in school. Many states insist that children study the state language in their classroom. This is an excellent addition as learning languages not only helps deepen our connection to different cultures, but also helps increase our creative thinking ability. However, many states in India also has a lot of migrants from other states. Yet, these children will have to comply with the curriculum and study languages that aren’t native to them. Imagine if you were one of them. How hard would it be to master a local language when nobody speaks this language at home. They have to also study among students who speak the local language as their native tongue and take exams among them. The ability to put yourself in their shoes and think from their point of view is called empathy. Your project is to develop a tool that can help these children master the local language as well as native speakers. This tool can range from an app to a board game or even a program. Let’s get started
Sports: A Part of your Community
Sports are an integral part of our growth and development. As young kids, we were asked and allowed to play. But as we grow older, for most of us sports loses its value. Mainly due to lack of time. The few who continue playing are the ones who have the potential to make sports their future. However, great things happen when we play sports. Not only does it keep our bodies agile, it also helps sharpen our mind. We think clearly and focus much better. It teaches us about teamwork and even leadership. There are many countries where people like us give a lot of importance to sports in their daily life. But our country isn’t a part of this list. What if you were tasked with bringing a change and making your community participate regularly? A change always starts with a single move in your immediate surroundings. Your opportunity to start a movement begins now. Let’s get started.
Incredible India 2022 and Beyond
India is the seventh largest country in the world. While most other countries boast of either lakes or forests, snow or mountains, desert or city, India has it all. With very diverse cultures, food, art and beautiful topography, this country is a tourist’s dream. Yet, so many places in this country remain unexplored. What if you had the power to change one such place? What if you could completely alter one location to become a tourist magnet? Let’s get started.
Super Hero – Waste Management
How does waste get tackled? Do we produce too much of it? With urbanization and increase in population, waste management has become an increasingly important topic. Therefore, a superhero today would be that person who has superpowers to manage waste. The problem you need to solve is to imagine a superhero and the powers and tools this hero must have in order to reduce waste, increase awareness on recycling and ways for disposal of waste. Think in terms of a superhero for your community and then scale it to city wide. What are the additional powers needed then?
Urban Planning, Design Thinking and Sustainability
How many rooms are there in your home? Is there a balcony? How about a garden? How many bathrooms? Are there young kids or older people living with you? Is the design of your home customised for their needs too? And for the biggest question of all – how long did it take to build your home? What if you could build a home that’s customised to suit the needs of people living at your place in a very short time? Let’s take it a step further and use concepts of physics to make it foldable so it can be assembled anywhere! This could potentially solve the affordable home crisis and utilise the scarcely available spaces in our cities really well. In this project, you will be guided through research, ideation and finally designing the house. You can get creative with the materials and design. Remember it has to be functional and look good. Let’s get started!
Smash the Stigma: Spreading Mental Health Awareness
This high school project encourages students to create a vibrant and engaging online campaign to destigmatize mental health. Working in teams, students will research mental health topics and use their creativity to design a dynamic digital campaign that includes videos, info graphics, blog posts, and social media content. The project will culminate in a live campaign where teams showcase their digital outreach and impact towards destigmatizing mental health. This project not only enhances students’ understanding of mental health but also develops their skills in digital marketing, teamwork, and empathy, promoting a proactive approach to mental health awareness. This Project is offered in association with Doc Gautham’s Neuro Centre.