Tarang STEM Accelerator serves high-potential learners in residential Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) and government schools, turning schools into launchpads for deeper STEM. The program is a collaboration with the Innovation & Science Promotion Foundation (ISPF) and the Central Square Foundation (CSF). Students move through compact concept sprints, inquiry projects, and real-world challenges; curate their work into portfolios; and present at campus showcases. Teachers co-facilitate and are active partners in each learner’s STEM journey. The model blends on-campus sessions with guided online touchpoints and mentoring circles led by ISPF experts. With project-based, hands-on experiential pedagogy at its core, the program builds essential 21st-century skills—critical thinking, collaboration, communication, creativity, and problem-solving—and deepens STEM understanding. This program helps students nurture their fullest potential and shape their futures.
Tarang Accelerator Programme
Tarang Accelerator is a flagship programme in collaboration with the Innovation & Science Promotion Foundation (ISPF) and the Central Square Foundation (CSF) to nurture high-potential students from JNVs and government schools. The programme began in October 2025 and will complete its first pilot in March 2026. This year, it is running at JNV Doddaballapura.
Need for this Programme
India’s school education system serves ~25 crore children. Many students come from underserved communities and face systemic gaps in identification and support. With most interventions beginning only after Grade 10, much of this potential remains untapped and underdeveloped.
To bridge this gap, CSF is introducing a new High Potential Students workstream in 2025 to support bright young minds from underprivileged backgrounds in becoming future innovators, researchers, and leaders. By 2030, we aim to transform the learning journeys of 1 lakh students by equipping them with the skills, support, and exposure needed to thrive in higher education and high-growth careers. Through this work, we are committed to advancing equity and excellence, empowering young minds from every corner of India to realise their full potential.
Key Program Outcomes
- Students: Bridge the opportunity gap by improving conceptual understanding and unlocking mastery and aspirations through the nurturance of STEM and life skills.
- Ecosystem: Create an ecosystem that identifies and nurtures high-potential students, fostering a collaborative network with exemplary partners and interventions to provide holistic support.
- Policy: Inform scalable solutions by developing replicable models and tools for identifying and enriching high-potential students.
Pilot goals
Design an effective, sustainable programme for Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) and other residential school systems, with clear differentiation and positioning across three interlinked strands:
- Curriculum Integration – alignment with subject learning outcomes and classroom timetables.
- Extension – pathways for advanced exploration, career exposure, and project-based learning.
- Life Skills – embedded competencies like critical thinking, scientific literacy, collaboration, and resilience.
Method
- Experiential learning: Students build conceptual foundations using hands-on science activities and real-life case-study problems to deepen understanding.
- Project-Based Learning (PBL) at the core: Learners work in iterative build–test–reflect cycles anchored to real problems. They plan and prototype, gather evidence, present publicly, and improve using feedback rubrics—so understanding transfers beyond the classroom.
Project Highlights — Data Snapshot
- Year of Initiation: 2025
- Initiated by: Central Square Foundation (CSF)
- Implementation Partner: Innovation & Science Promotion Foundation (ISPF)
- Location: JNV Doddaballapura (Karnataka)
- No. of Schools Covered: 1
- No. of Students Benefitted: 80
- Grades Covered (Year 1): Grade 7
- Learning Resources Provided: STEM kits, worksheets, project kits
- Facilitation Model: ISPF educator-led sessions with school science teachers’ support
- Key Impact Areas: Student participation, critical thinking, communication skills
- Programme Duration (to date): 2 academic years