Gujarat students win Rural IT Quiz

Students of Ratanshi Umarshi Rambhiya (RUR) English High School, Gujarat, emerged the national winners in the Rural IT Quiz, organised by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and the Department of IT, BT and Science and Technology in the City on Tuesday.  

Six finalists battled it out at the National Finals where Giri Balasubramaniam quizzed their knowledge in IT. 

The theme for the quiz was, Android and the different versions of this popular operating system among smart phone users.

The team from Gujarat was awarded a trophy, along with the TCS educational scholarship of Rs one lakh. The runners-up, Bhilai Steel Plant Senior Secondary School, Chattisgarh, received a cash award of Rs 50,000 from former cricketer Syed Kirmani. The finalists also received an array of prizes, in addition to the TCS scholarship of Rs 10,000.

The national-level quiz competition was conducted in Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh from August to October for students of classes 8 to 12. The quiz was part of the Bangalore ITE.Biz 2014.

S R Patil, Minister for IT, BT, Science and Technology, said, “The Rural IT Quiz programme is an effort by the government to promote interest in Information Technology (IT) among the rural youth. We have scaled up the event to national level with the support of TCS. 

The response in all the states has been very encouraging and we are sure the programme will gather further momentum in the years ahead.”

IT awareness 

Nagaraj Ijari, vice president and Head, TCS Bangalore Operations, said, “The programme has been promoting IT awareness at the grassroots level for over a decade. 

It aims at fostering inclusive growth so that students in smaller towns across India get an opportunity to learn about the developments in IT.”