New Delhi: As a part of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras’ annual tech festival Shaastra, students of the institute are conducting a contest to create technical awareness among students of classes 1 to 12 across India.
The contest, ‘Shaastra Juniors,’ will be conducted online from October 1 to 3. The competition can be viewed using the link – https://juniors.shaastra.org/competitions.
“Shaastra Juniors will comprise a fun-filled weekend filled with events, shows, lectures and workshops focused on kindling students’ interest in technical areas. The event will also have special trophies for the best school and excellent students,” IIT Madras said.
Highlighting the unique aspects of Shaastra Juniors, Dr Shaikh Faruque Ali, Faculty Advisor, Shaastra 2022,said, “The comeback with the second edition of Shaastra Juniors will be even more enriching, educational and entertaining. The team has put extraordinary efforts to create an immersive experience and instill the spirit of science and technology among school students.”
“The high-spirited events, workshops and competitions are sure to have students yearning for more. The pandemic has taken a severe toll on the functioning of the entire ecosystem, and hence we decided to launch the second edition also in a completely online mode so that students can participate from the comfort of their homes,” Dr Ali added.
There are three key events of Shaastra Juniors, the institute said. In the first event, ‘Tech Voyage’, high-tier technology companies will exhibit their products in fields ranging from biotechnology to sustainable technology. It will also include a Q&A session with the audience.
The second event, ‘Graffiti’, will be a “competitive event to encourage students to discover their hidden talents and creativity.” This will be a poster-making or collage or artwork competition, “related to a social campaign provided by Shaastra”.
The third event, ‘Intro to the computing world’ will be on coding, various languages and related areas. “This workshop intends to introduce school students to various trending programming languages, their features, and future possibilities,” the institute said.
Speaking about the various events being held as part of Shaastra Juniors, Nitish Gupta, Co-curricular Affairs Secretary, Shaastra 2022 said, “Shaastra Juniors also includes sessions to foster interest in Astronomy and Astrophysics and help school students visualize these highly-technical fields. ‘Shaastra Nights’ will showcase the juxtaposition of music and technology. Our latest series ‘Reverb’ aims to bridge the gap between technology and music.”
“Shaastra will award the best schools and students for their excellence with interesting prizes. Points will be awarded for the grand Shaastra Junior Championship based on student participation from each school and their winnings that has been elaborated on the event website – https://juniors.shaastra.org/,” IIT Madras said.
