Page 29 - EducationWorld May 2021

Young Achievers

a Google Cloud Auto ML engine to A general knowledge quiz started
enable their projects. in 1999, TCSITW is the world’s larg-
The elder of two children of est inter-school quizzing competi-
Vibhor, a private equity investor and tion sponsored by IT behemoth Tata
corporate advisor, and Smriti Mehra, Consultancy Services (TCS, annual
a senior software professional at revenue: Rs.1.67 lakh crore, head-
Adobe Systems, Saanvi attributes count: 4.17 lakh) to “build aware-
her prize winning digital innovations ness, emphasise the importance of
to sustained parental and school IT skills and enable students to view
support. “Shriram Millennium is technology from a holistic perspec-
very supportive of new ideas and tive”. The grand finale of the 22nd
innovations. I’m especially grateful edition of the competition presided
to my computer teacher Shalini by N.G. Subramaniam, COO of the
Khurana for her valuable guidance company, was conducted as usual by
in both versions of the contest,” renowned quizmaster Giri ‘Pick-
acknowledges this young digital brain’ Balasubramaniam.
native. The elder of two children of single
With time on her hands because mother Hemlata Rateria, coordi-
CISCE has cancelled the class X nator of G.D. Birla Public School,
SAANVI MEHRA ICSE board exams due to Covid-19 Siliguri, Abhishek is delighted that
all finalists were from tier-II and III
pandemic risk, Saanvi is ideating her
next innovation. “I want to do my cities and towns. “New ICT-driven
bit for social causes such as educa- study programmes have closed the
arly this year Saanvi Mehra tion, employment and healthcare. learning gap between schools in
(15), a class X student of the I believe technology-driven solu- metros and small towns of India,
ECISCE-affiliated Shriram tions/apps can transform the lives especially in these Covid pandemic
Millennium School, Noida, was ad- and livelihoods of underprivileged times. For instance, I learned the
judged winner of the online Google children very quickly,” says this finer points of advanced program-
India Code to Learn Contest 2020. young innovator with a strong social ming from YouTube. Our school
The prize-winning entry of this conscience. management is also supportive of
young social activist was a machine Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru) co-curricular activities such as quiz-
learning model which identifies zing and science competitions. My
newborns with Down Syndrome — a computer science teacher Mrinmoy
genetic disorder which causes intel- Paul and quiz teacher Prashanto
lectual delay and slows the cognitive ABHISHEK AGARWAL Chakraborty in particular, took great
development of 20,000 children pains to prepare me for TCSITW
per year nationwide — through class XII student of the CBSE- 2020,” acknowledges Abhishek.
hi-resolution images. If detected affiliated G.D. Goenka Public Currently in the thick of preparing
early as Saanvi’s model — which has A School, Siliguri, Abhishek for his class XII board exams, this
since been integrated into a free- Agarwal was recently (February) new digital technologies enthusiast
of-charge Down Syndrome Detec- crowned champion of the TCS IT has his future mapped out. “I intend
tion mobile application — does, the Wiz (TCSITW) 2020, held online for to write IIT-JEE and graduate in
worst effects of Down Syndrome the first time. In the national finals computer science engineering.
can be mitigated. staged on December 30, Abhishek Thereafter, I aspire to research new-
This is not the first time this bested three finalists of St. Jude’s age technologies,” he says.
inventive teen has won this com- Public School, Kotagiri (Tamil Go Bro!
petition. Four years ago when she Nadu), School for Excellence, Dewas Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)
was in class VI, she ideated a digital (Madhya Pradesh) and
textbooks donation platform to dis- Little Flower Public School,
tribute school texts among children Bengaluru. Nithin Nagaraj of
of poor households. That app was Little Flower, Bengaluru was
also declared a winner in the Google adjudged runner-up.
India Code to Learn Contest, 2016. Earlier in the four elimina-
Initiated in 2015, the Google tion rounds which began
India Code to Learn Contest — an in early October, Abhishek
initiative of the Indian subsidiary bested 9,900 students
of tech giant Google Inc, USA — is countrywide in the 22nd
open to students of classes V-XII edition of TCSITW to win
countrywide. The 2020 national Amazon vouchers valued at
contest introduced a new Artificial Rs.30,000, a gold medal, a
Intelligence/Machine Learning winner’s certificate and an
(AI/ML) category for class IX-X outsized champions trophy
students with participants provided for his school.

MAY 2021 EDUCATIONWORLD 29