Building on the core aims of NXplorers to reimagine what’s possible, the India team spent 2021 reimagining the delivery of NXplorers as schools were closed for more than five months. India has the highest uptake of NXplorers students each year, so this was no easy feat, but while the trainers were learning how to adapt the programme and inspire students virtually, they also gained many learnings for the future of the programme.

A year in numbers

In 2021, the NXplorers India team delivered 1,339 workshops to 60,305 students and 464 teachers spanning across 436 schools. They also partnered with a range of prestigious universities for their NXplorers Future Leaders Lab and enrolled more than 3,000 students through 27 webcasts. During 2021, NXplorers students have developed 82 change projects and 50+ projects are under development, featuring some very inspiring solutions such as an agricultural marketing app for farmers, an automated garbage collection van, and an electricity bill calculator.

As if these numbers aren’t impressive enough, the India students have shared outstanding feedback of the programme highlighting their passion for STEM in both their future tertiary education and careers.

“I always dreamt of bringing a positive change to my communities, but was unaware of how to do it. NXplorers has empowered me to ideate, think about scenarios and ripple effects, derive solutions and persuade the solutions. Above all, the programme has given me the confidence to become a change-maker. NXplorers made me realise that STEM is not just for high marks and a good career, but offers pillars for innovation to be used for developing solutions to help humankind.” NXplorers Student, India

Adaptation to inspiration

Beyond changing the way they think, the NXplorers facilitators in India summarised their biggest programme developments and learnings from 2021:

• Upskilling the facilitators: Before moving to virtual delivery, we conducted train-the-trainer sessions to upskill our facilitators who ran mock sessions to familiarise themselves with the virtual delivery process. Facilitators then started delivering the workshops in pairs to learn from each other.
• Overcoming operational issues: During the course of virtual delivery, we encountered various technological challenges such as students’ screen time, smart device availability and internet access. So, we made workshop days and timings flexible to suit the students and schools’ availability, and lowered the resolution of all videos to save on student internet data.
• Ongoing development: After each workshop, we started mentoring the students virtually via WhatsApp groups and email which allowed us to keep in touch with students and deliver materials to their doorstep.

Looking forward

With ambitious plans for 2022, the India team are excited about the future of NXplorers which will feature Junior, Senior and Higher Education programmes to deepen the impact of the programme and create a five year NXplorers journey for students.