SINGAPORE - A mobile classroom will be making its way to schools from January next year. The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore on Saturday launched its lab on wheels, to encourage the young to start tinkering with technology.

The retrofitted bus will travel to 80 primary schools and reach out to 16,000 pupils in the next two years. Onboard, pupils will take part in games and activities such as robotics and learn simple visual programming language designed for creating games. Pilot sessions with four schools - Qifa Primary, Yu Neng Primary, Cedar Primary and Geylang Methodist Primary - have already been conducted.

Several industry players have also come forward to contribute to the initiative. For instance, tech company Silicon Straits will bring in innovative toys and learning kits that contain electrical parts such as dimmers, motors and pressure sensors for pupils to experience with.

Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim, who was at the launch at Vivocity, said the programmes on board aim to make exploring technology "fun and engaging". The hope is that they will spark students' interest and spur them to explore their interest in technology further, perhaps in their careers, he added.