School students with a rough sketch of an invention in their notebook have a window till 15 September 2026 to get it on record. The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, has opened online nominations under the INSPIRE-MANAK Scheme for 2026-27, and CBSE has told the heads of all affiliated schools to push eligible students to enter. Each school can send up to five ideas. Not more.
The scheme is open to students of Classes VI to XII. Its purpose, as CBSE puts it, is to promote creativity and innovation among school children. Entries go in through the E-Management of INSPIRE-MANAK Scheme (E-MIAS) portal, which is the online system DST runs for the scheme.
One detail schools should read twice: the nomination is made by the school, not by the student sitting at home. So a child with an idea has to take it to a teacher or the principal first.
What schools and students need to know
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Scheme | INSPIRE-MANAK Scheme, 2026-27 |
| Run by | Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India |
| Who can be nominated | Students of Classes VI to XII |
| Ideas per school | Up to five original and innovative ideas |
| Where to apply | E-MIAS portal |
| Last date | 15 September 2026 |
Nominations are to be filed at https://www.inspireawards-dst.gov.in. CBSE has asked schools not to wait for the closing week and to submit well before the last date. Detailed guidelines for the scheme sit on the same portal.
Why the five-idea cap matters
Because the number is fixed, schools will have to filter. In practice that means science teachers collecting ideas from classrooms, shortlisting the strongest ones, and then keying them into the portal under the school’s login. Students in Class VI are as eligible as students in Class XII, so junior sections shouldn’t be left out of the shortlisting.
INSPIRE, short for Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research, is a DST programme that encourages young people to take up science. The MANAK track, Million Minds Augmenting National Aspirations and Knowledge, is its school-level idea competition.
CBSE runs on close to 30,000 affiliated schools in India and abroad, including Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas and private schools.
Schools that haven’t yet checked their E-MIAS login should do that first, then start collecting ideas from students. The portal closes for this cycle on 15 September 2026.