Chennai: More than 2,500 children in the age group of
7 to 17 took part in the ‘Techno Central’ intelligence and creativity
contests organised by the IIT Madras Research Park (IITMRP).
In the contest, six gamified learning competitions were held for the
children.
The event was collaborated by India’s top-rated gamified EdTech
platforms including HackerKID, DIYA labs and Time2Chess.
The collaboration of HackerKID, DIYA labs, and Time2Chess was aimed
to encourage kids to learn and gain essential skills such as problem
solving, cognitive thinking, creativity and innovation through online
coding games, making robotic projects and chess, a release from IIT-M
said today.
More than 2,500 kids registered for these six competitions which included
a python coding competition, robotics contests, a chess competition, a quiz
competition and poster making contest, besides a speech contest.
The Python coding contest was supported by the HackerKID website powered by GUVI, an IIT Madras and IIM-Ahmedabad incubated EdTech company.
HackerKID is India’s first gamified coding & learning environment for kids,
the release said.
Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, President, IITMRP and IIT-Madras Incubation Cell
inaugurated the contest in the presence of Sunil Sethia, Executive Director
of BNI Chennai.
The prizes were distributed by guests of honour Dr. Kalaiselvan T, Former
Additional Director of CUIC-Anna University, Ms. Rajalakshmi Srinivasan,
Director of Product Management at ZOHO Corp, and Mr. Chitti Babu, Chief
Innovation Officer, Star Insurance.
Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala said “I can see that children present here wanting
to play coding challenges, make robot projects, win over chess or enjoy any
such activities that are meant for them.”
He said the biggest part of GUVI that attracted me was they understood
that programming and language were two different things. GUVI brought
out coding classes in vernacular Indian languages and they teach
programming in these languages.
The contests were focused on bringing out their creativity and innovation.
Over 100 children received gifts and prizes for winning and leading ahead
of others in the competitions with a competing spirit.
Among the schools that participated, the schools with the maximum number
of winning students have been awarded trophies for being supportive of kids
in learning through games and co-curricular activities.
