Thaindian News

Mysore (Karnataka), July 21 (IANS) Four bright students of St. Joseph’s High School in this heritage city Thursday emerged winners and runners-up in the multi-city, inter-school quiz competition ‘IGNITE 2011′ organised by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).

Nikhil Ravishanker of Class 10 and Leyander Lobo of Class 9 of St. Joseph’s lifted the trophy while Class 10 students Apurva P. Joshi and Gowri Tikoti of the same school were runners-up in the exciting contest.

About 200 students from 75 schools across the state’s cultural capital participated in the quiz programme held at Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering (SJCE) auditorium near the Mysore University campus.

The inter-school competition was conducted by quizmaster Adittya Nath Mobayi of the New Delhi-based Quizcraft.

Some of the quizmaster’s questions were answered at ease by the smart students while some seemed to be tricky as they made the young boys and girls think hard.

The packed auditorium witnessed great excitement with all students cheering their school teams and applauding every answer.

Addressing the students, chief guest and SJCE principal B.G. Sangameshwara said the objective of the event was to ignite students’ interest in higher education and make them aware of the university’s open and distance learning system.

The three-hour-long event began with a written test as an elimination round for the participating students. Of them, six teams were selected for the next and final round. The final contest comprised six rounds of questions, including one on music and other on visuals.

A few questions were also put to the audience and those who gave correct answers were rewarded with prizes. The winners were awarded a trophy for their school, individual trophies, book vouchers and a gift hamper each, while runners-up got individual trophies, book vouchers and a gift hamper.

A panel exhibition and a flash presentation were also organised to make the students aware of various programmes being offered by IGNOU.

Mysore was the 10th city where IGNOU organised the quiz.

Earlier, the contest was held in New Delhi, Kolkata, Guwahati, Bangalore, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jammu and Hyderabad.

IGNITE 2011 will be held in other cities before the grand finale of the winning teams in New Delhi later this year.

With currently over three million students on its rolls, IGNOU started with two courses and 4,000 students in 1985 and evolved into one of the world’s largest varsities by offering about 450 programmes.