CHENNAI: Indian Institute of Technology Madras Students are conducting a contest to create technical awareness among schools students of classes I to XII across India. Called ‘Shaastra Juniors,’ it is being held completely in online mode from 1st to 3rd October 2021 to enable students from all parts of the country to participate from the comforts of their homes.
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.
Shaastra Juniors will be available for the public to review free of cost. The competition can be viewed using the following link – https://juniors.shaastra.org/competitions
Highlighting the unique aspects of Shaastra Juniors, Dr. Shaikh Faruque Ali, Faculty Advisor, Shaastra 2022, IIT Madras, 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.”
Further, Dr. Shaikh Faruque Ali said, “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.”
The Key Events of Shaastra Juniors include:
Ø Tech Voyage: A virtual event that would feature a wide array of high-tier technology companies exhibiting their products and providing descriptions regarding their progress. These sessions will also include a Q&A from the audience. Exhibits in diverse fields from biotechnology to sustainable technology would be open to everyone.
Ø Graffiti: A competitive event to encourage students to discover their hidden talents and creativity. It will feature three key concepts: Students creative expression of the topic, use of various resources and explaining the concept in a simple, yet effective manner and their originality, colour harmony and the visual appeal of the final presentation. This will be a poster-making/collage/artwork competition, related to a social campaign provided by Shaastra.
Ø Intro to the computing world: The session will deal with coding, various languages and related areas. This workshop intends to introduce school students to various trending programming languages, their features, and future possibilities. The aim is to help school students find and develop their own interests, by providing a practical section with each major programming language, starting from scratch.
Speaking about the various events being held as part of Shaastra Juniors, Mr. Nitish Gupta, Co-curricular Affairs Secretary, Shaastra 2022, IIT Madras, 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.”
The competitions at Shaastra Juniors aim to ignite school students’ minds through their distinctive contests. 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/
A Virtual Tech Exhibition of innovative techno entertainment projects will also be held and is sure to captivate the school students. Shaastra Juniors also includes a live demonstration and a recorded video to explain the working of such projects.
Shaastra Juniors’ flagship event is the ‘Shaastra Junior Chess Championship,’ which would be preceded by a lecture by a chess prodigy. Mr. Niranjan Navalgund, FIDE ( International Chess Federation) Master will be the Commentator for ‘Shaastra Junior Chess Championship’.
