Creating many IT capitals
It is no more only IITians and IIM pass outs who have a global brand value. School children from the farthest corners are picking up fast in the 21st century IT world

By Jyotsna Singh
New Delhi, November 20: How much do you know about Rock and Roll, that too decade-wise? How many of us know that it is not just tigers and peacocks, but also flying beauties butterflies that are fast diminishing from the surface of the earth? How committed are we to create a love for books among young ones? Most importantly, have we ever linked all these issues to the new world called the virtual world, that too by breaking all territorial boundaries?

Well, there is a host of school children who have done precisely this, and plan to do more in life. The winners of ThinkQuest’09 competition, an annual event organised by Oracle Education Foundation, were proud to share their achievement and vision for society. ThinkQuest is a global web based event for students in the age group of 12-19 years. There are two categories – website where a group of students are supposed to design a website and narrative where content for a website is created. There are three age groups – under 12, under 15 and under 19. Enormous interaction takes place among participants across globe. They’re also coached by teachers and mentors from different parts of the globe.

The Indian students triumphed at various positions in this year’s ThinkQuest. The winners got to go to San Francisco to attend ThinkQuest Live and receive their prizes. The prize was an awesome Apple MAC laptop.

Anmol Sud, a X std student from DL DAV School, Delhi, won the first prize in the narrative category along with teammates Igor, Danielle, Tori, Drew and Chase from Brazil and the United States. The topic ‘Rock and Roll’ was dealt with in its entirety – from giving decade-wise history to bringing in perspectives from various countries to interviewing rock bands and common listeners from across the world. You have any question under the sun about the topic and there is one destination – Anmol’s website.

“I was never interested in this kind of a music. But now I know so much about it. My roles included editing of the text and putting it in HTML which I have learnt in school as part of curriculum,” said a beaming Anmol. When asked how he got in touch with his teammates, he said, “I was sending New Year messages to people world over and Danielle from Brazil replied by asking if I want to join her group. I was initially hesitant, but then joined in. Then I got introduced to other team-members. We kept awake at odd hours to be able meet online. It was amazing to meet them all in San Francisco for the first time in person.”

There were many hurdles, and, of course, solutions too. Danielle didn’t know English. So a translator’s services were taken.

The second prize for under 15 went to an all-India group. The school does not belong to a famous metro, but a remote place called Dimapur. Their dynamic teacher and coach, Saptarshi Majumdar, was credited by Oracle for such a phenomenal success. Their website is called Bool Buddies and inspires children to pick up books and gain knowledge.

Another group, which was a finalist worked on butterflies and is in the process of creating awareness about them being extinct.

The competition has seen exceptional increase in the number of participants from India. There are schools from Ambala, Malegaon, Delhi, Bangalore, among others, who actively participated in the event. So next time if someone says that Bangalore is the IT capital of the country, you have reasons to differ. Our schools, in metros as well as far-flung areas, are not behind at all!