In a spirited display of creativity and social consciousness, students from across the nation have once again demonstrated that innovation can drive sustainable change. At this year’s National Innovation Challenge 2025, Sherubling Higher Secondary School from Trongsa and Martshala Middle Secondary School from Samdrup Jongkhar clinched the top honors with groundbreaking projects that promise to revolutionize their communities.
A Fertile Future in Sustainable Agriculture
In the senior category, a team from Sherubling Higher Secondary School wowed the judges with their Sustainable Organic Liquid Fertiliser—a novel solution derived entirely from organic waste. Recognizing the twin challenges of suboptimal crop yields and limited access to organic fertilizers, the young innovators developed this eco-friendly product to transform agricultural practices. “Going back to school, our team will use the fund to scale up our project. Through this, we plan to have an impact on the community,” explained Rinchen Om, a student leader from the team.
Transforming Health and Hygiene with Local Ingenuity
Meanwhile, the junior category witnessed a breakthrough in community health care. Martshala Middle Secondary School’s team introduced Bashika Soap, an innovative product named after a locally available plant known for its medicinal properties. This initiative was born from the pressing need to provide a cost-effective alternative to expensive commercial soaps and to combat the prevalent skin diseases affecting local students. “The fund we secured will be used to buy the materials used for soap making to produce on a large scale. If we can produce on a large scale, it will benefit the boarding schools, thereby, enhancing the education system,” stated Nyingjey Lhatshok, a representative of the winning team.
A National Celebration of Young Talent
The challenge, which began in 2022 and has grown to involve thousands of students nationwide, saw entries from 52 schools, with the best eight proposals advancing to the finals. The projects were evaluated based on how effectively they identified and addressed real-world problems, the creativity of their solutions, and the potential social impact of their innovations. “It begins with how the teams define their problem. In addition, once the problem is defined, the focus is on how innovative the solutions are and, lastly, the social impact of those solutions,” said Phuntsho Namgay, Judge and Officiating Director at InnoTech, Druk Holding and Investments.
Looking Ahead
Both winning teams were awarded Nu 100,000 each as seed money to further develop and implement their projects. The initiative is bolstered by close collaboration between the Ministry of Education and UNICEF, with plans for ongoing monitoring and support through field visits and additional funding discussions if necessary. Dorji Wangchuk, Deputy Chief Programme Officer at MoESD, emphasized that “the monitoring will be done jointly by the Education Ministry and UNICEF,” underscoring the importance of institutional support in nurturing future innovators.
As the National Innovation Challenge continues to inspire young minds to see everyday challenges as opportunities, the remarkable achievements of Sherubling Higher Secondary School and Martshala Middle Secondary School stand as a testament to the power of education, ingenuity, and sustainable thinking in shaping a better future for all.
