IIT Gandhinagar to Roll Out Season Four of ‘Curiosity Program’, One of India’s Largest Educational Initiatives

The Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) is set to launch the fourth season of its large-scale, online learning initiative – the Curiosity Program – on July 11, 2025. Aimed at fostering curiosity-driven learning, this innovative program targets middle school girls from Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs), which are government-run residential schools for girls from underprivileged and marginalized communities across India.

The inaugural session will be graced by Ms Archana Awasthy, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Education, and will be broadcast live on Zoom and YouTube at 5:30 p.m. on the day of launch.

Designed to create engaging classrooms and spark intellectual curiosity, the Curiosity Program uses simple, low-cost, hands-on activities to develop key skills such as observation, reasoning, and perseverance. This season will feature 50 live sessions – 25 in Mathematics and 25 in Science – highlighting the connections between academic concepts and everyday life. Some of the activities include creating geometric art to explore symmetry, strategic games for reasoning, and designing T-shirts using acid-base chemistry with fruits and flowers.

This year, the program will be conducted across 9 Indian states – Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Tripura – and one Union Territory – Dadra and Nagar Haveli, reaching 1685 KGBVs and around 1.5 lakh girls.

Since its inception, the program has witnessed tremendous engagement, receiving over 40,000 photos and videos from students via WhatsApp and Telegram. In the past year alone, the initiative reached over 90,000 girls across six states. Stories of inspiration abound – from Drishti in Gujarat aspiring to join an IIT, to girls in Tripura working late into the night to complete projects, and students in Uttar Pradesh expressing pride in feeling like scientists.

One notable highlight was the overwhelming response to the Date-a-Day Puzzle challenge, with 2500+ girls from 27 KGBVs solving puzzles daily and some completing all 31 in just a few days. Teachers have shared how the sessions have sparked excitement and anticipation among students, with one remarking, “After your session ended at 6:30 p.m., the girls stayed up solving puzzles till midnight. They only stopped for prayer and dinner.”

Backed by enthusiastic participation from students, strong support from wardens and teachers, and collaboration with state governments, the Curiosity Program continues to foster engagement, observations and reasoning among young girls, empowering them to become critical thinkers and imagine bold futures.

The program can be viewed by schools, students and teachers live on YouTube.
Join the live stream on July 11, 2025, at 5:30 p.m. at https://tinyurl.com/YTKGBVHindi