CBSE Experience Centre opens in Dwarka; minister pushes hands-on learning

Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi inaugurated the CBSE Experience Centre at the Central Board of Secondary Education's integrated complex in Dwarka, New Delhi, on Tuesday, October 27, 2026. The centre is an interactive exhibition, spread across 6,000 square feet, that traces the story of education in India from the gurukuls to digital classrooms and the history of CBSE itself. At the opening, the minister said students should not only read about scientific ideas but observe, experiment and understand them through hands-on experience, and he called for more such centres so that students from poorer families can also learn this way.

CBSE has affiliated schools across India and abroad, and the way it chooses to present learning sends a signal to those schools. The Experience Centre is the board's attempt to show, in physical form, the kind of education NEP 2020 asks for: less memorising for exams, more seeing, doing and asking questions.

The minister's remarks made that link directly. Experiential learning means students learn a concept by working with it, for example by building a simple circuit, testing a hypothesis in a lab or observing a natural process, rather than only reading a definition. Atal Tinkering Labs are spaces set up in schools under the Atal Innovation Mission where students can use tools and electronics kits to build their own projects. The plan to add 50,000 labs to the existing 10,000 would greatly widen access to such spaces if it is carried out.

The minister's call for more experience centres also raises a practical question of access. A single centre in Dwarka can be visited mainly by schools in and around Delhi. If the idea is to help students from economically weaker backgrounds, as he said, similar centres or travelling versions would be needed in other regions. The reports of the opening did not give visiting hours, booking rules or plans for other cities.

For parents and teachers, the exhibits on exam stress are also notable. A zone on handling exam pressure treats well-being as part of learning, not separate from it.

Short-term: Schools in the Delhi region can plan educational visits once CBSE publishes visiting details. Teachers get a ready resource on the history of Indian education and on activity-based learning.

Long-term: If more centres are built and the 50,000 new Atal Tinkering Labs are set up, many more students, including those in smaller towns, could get regular hands-on learning instead of textbook-only teaching.

Who is affected: Students and teachers of CBSE-affiliated schools, parents, school managements planning lab facilities, and policymakers implementing NEP 2020.

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