To engage school students in productive activities amidst coronavirus induced lockdown, Student Clubs of Guru Nanak Dev University (Chemical Society & Science Club) organised an idea pitching competition titled “Combat COVID-19 Challenge”. In this, the students from class 9th to 12th were invited to propose strategies to deal with Management/Administration/Examination/Teaching related issues to be faced by schools in the Post-Lockdown Era.
In the preliminary round of this competition, students from 59 schools across Amritsar submitted their ideas in written format. Out of these, 10 students were shortlisted for the final round in which the students presented their ideas online using audio and visual tools in front of a live audience. The final round was conducted on Sunday, the 7th of June. Mr. Satinderbir Singh, District Education Officer (DEO), Amritsar, graced the event with his benign presence to encourage and motivate the students.
The students covered several aspects related to the lockdown and its deep and far reaching impact on our society, and came up with innovative ideas which can be adopted by schools to contain the spread of COVID-19 once they decide to reopen after the lockdown phase. The students emphasised on social distancing measures as well as optimal use of virtual learning platforms.
The event was judged by Dr Gurpartap Singh, Associate Prof. of English, Hindu College, Amritsar; Dr Bindiya Arora, Asst. Prof. of Physics, GNDU; and Er Ritu Goyal, Soft Skill Trainer & Career Consultant. Students were evaluated on the basis of the novelty and practicality of their ideas, and the quality of their presentation. The presentations were also followed up by questions from the judges to test the knowledge of the participants about the recommendations forwarded by them, and also to check the viability of the propositions offered by them.
The Results for the Final round were declared live.
First Position was secured by Sanya Arora of Bhavan’s SL Public School, Amritsar. The second position was shared between Uday Thakur of DAV Public School and Aman Kumar of Army Public School. The Third Position was shared between Nitesh of Govt. Sen. Sec. School Gol Bagh, Amritsar & Chahat Dhawan of DAV Public School, Amritsar. The winners and participants are awarded with certificates and cash prizes.
The District Education Officer, S. SatinderBir Singh lauded the efforts of the Science club in organizing such a topical activity. ‘It is to the credit of the University and the Science Club to start a think-tank which also involves young students who are the future of our country.’ Congratulating the winners and participants, he said, ‘I listened to all the proposals offered by the participants with keen interest, and I am delighted that young students are forwarding such interesting ideas to battle this Pandemic, and most of them are actually easy to put into practice and appear sound.’
The Competition was organised by Mr Yatin Batra, student of B.Sc Chemistry (HS), GNDU under the supervision of Dr Venus Singh Mithu, Dr Bindiya Arora, and Dr Hardeep Singh (Dean student welfare).
The participating schools also thanked the University for conducting this activity which not only kept their wards actively and fruitfully involved but also encouraged them to think laterally which is the need of these unprecedented times.
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