India CSR News Network
MUMBAI: At a glittering ceremony held at the NSCI, Worli, gathered were 75 talented tech whiz kids from all over India who were felicitated for winning awards in a fiercely contested gamified competition in the city on Feb 9, 2017. The biggest Online Technology Competition of its kind, ‘WHIZ Juniors 2017’ was a pan-India contest organized by the Mumbai-based Clone Futura.
The winners who received awards are Soham Pednekar,Aadity punatar, Abhrajit Gogoi from Group A , Om Hemdev, Shiv Bhatt Arnav Chokhawala from Group B, Shresht Prasad, Shreyaan Daga,Viraj Thakur from Group C, Aahaan phadnis, Deepak Roshan, Pratham Chaudhary, Group D from Ajay Rawat, Salil Naik, Satvik Annapragada from Group E. The Finalists were from Mumbai, New Mumbai, Jamshedpur, Panaji and Bengaluru.
To applaud and encourage the winners and runners-up ranging from 2nd to 12th standard, eminent personalities were present including Gowri Ishwaran – the chief executive officer of the Global Education and Leadership Foundation; Dr Jawahar Surisetti – Education Advisor to 3 state governments and Central Government; Perin Bagli, Regional Head of Maharashtra ICSE board and principals of prestigious schools.
Vidushi Daga, Founder & Director of Clone Futura said, “Half of what technology students know today will be obsolete in 2-3 years, and in order to sustain a competitive advantage, students need to keep upgrading their technological skills. Whiz juniors’ gamified learning platform gives an opportunity to enhance the entrepreneurial and learning skills of young minds with fun, since today it is very important to empower children with the latest technology” said Vidushi Daga, Founder & Director of Clone Futura.
“This time we also had some special students who have reached the Top 75. One of them is Bhavya Shah,visually impaired student from Gopi Birla memorial school and other is Medansh Mehta from Euro school, Mumbai who surprised Satya Nadella with his new gaming application. This makes us proud that Whiz juniors exist to champion and promote excellence in Technology in all its forms without being biased. It seeks to celebrate power of knowledge of innovation, curiosity and creation amongst the present generations and also helps them in achieving their dreams”, She further added.
Adding to this Perin Bagli, Regional Head of Maharashtra ICSE board said, “Whiz Juniors is a wonderful platform to encourage and groom children to grow in life and succeed in achieving their dreams. I have personally witnessed the enthusiasm among children from my school (Activity School) coming up to me and sharing their tech ideas. It is surprising to see such creative ideation among today’s young generation, and I am glad that we have a platform like Whiz juniors to support them and make them one of India’s tech genius”.
Also present at the event was Padmashri Gowri Ishwaran – CEO of The Global Education and Leadership Foundation said, “Today’s kids have lot of thing to express. Their curiosity is to learn more and more and to compete with each other. I have seen drastic change in the students present here. The knowledge that they have gained through Whiz Juniors is remarkable. There are things related to technology that I might also not be aware of like complete knowledge of even making an app etc. I must say Whiz juniors is a great platform for bringing out the tech genius in our students. Gamification and technology will equip the skills required in 21st century ”.
The tech competition was held in five levels according to the school grades (2nd to 12th standard). More than 70000 students and 600 tech savvy schools across India participated. The rigorous process of checking and elimination by the experts over several rounds ensured that only the best among the lot came out as the winners.
