Overview

• STEM Fusion, a one-day workshop and student exhibition, was held Monday at the State Convention Centre in Shillong, organized by NECTAR, the Smart Village Movement and IISER Pune.
• Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma announced awards of Rs 2 lakh, Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000, plus Rs 10,000 for each participating school or group, and said select student projects would receive government funding.
• He urged the Education Department to establish district- and state-level Science and Maths contests such as innovation fairs, Olympiads and Rubik’s Cube challenges, and called for cross-sector collaboration to build more STEM labs at the grassroots.
• Sangma proposed expanding access through mobile “Lab-on-Wheels” outreach to bring practical experiments to more students across Meghalaya.
• The programme showcased 95 projects with participation from over 400 students and 80 teachers, featuring expert sessions by IISER Pune, NIT Tiruchirapalli’s Dr S Muthukumaran on machine learning through gaming, and a NECTAR-led drone awareness workshop.