Students of Erode and Salem schools win NIE Vista awards

Salem: An aquatic water hyacinth harvester that removes the weed from lakes and rivers, an artificial intelligence-powered device to assist visually impaired, and utilisation of carbon dioxide gas for dyeing of clothes to reduce effluent discharge, thereby minimising water pollution – these were the innovative ideas pitched by school students, winning the top three places in the NIE Vista awards grand finale - an interschool Ideathon organised by The Times of India in association with Vellore International School (VIS)-Chennai and Entrepreneurship Development and Innovation Institute-Tamil Nadu (EDII-TN) as the knowledge partner in Salem on Friday.
Chief guest of the event, Tamil Nadu minister for housing, prohibition and excise S Muthusamy was visibly impressed by the innovativeness of the students. Appreciating the students for their efforts and the teachers for the mentoring, Muthusamy expressed happiness over TOI’s initiative. “These programmes give a platform to the students to exhibit their knowledge and innovative ideas,” he said.
He emphasised the need for sound school education system for the growth of the state and listing out the government’s efforts in this regard. The breakfast scheme, for instance, helps in enrolment of more students and keeps them nourished, he said. He also mentioned ‘Illam Thedi Kalvi’ scheme and Naan Mudhalvan scheme rolled out by chief minister M K Stalin for the benefit of school students. In a bid to give additional impetus on sports among students, Udhayanidhi Stalin was appointed as the minister for sports, he said.
One of the guests of honours, Salem district forest officer Kashyap Shashank Ravi said the students who come up with innovative ideas would support society when they become an entrepreneur.
Another guest of honour and the joint commissioner of GST (central) I P Deepti congratulated the young minds for coming up with ‘wonderful innovative’ ideas especially for the environment and the poor.
VIS director V Sanjeevi noted that though there was remarkable development on one side of India, there was still another part which was lagging. “India is the fourth nation to land on moon, at the same time several people are still using bullock carts in the villages. So, India must go many miles to achieve overall growth,” he said, noting that innovative students and their path-breaking ideas would achieve this growth.
Erode Thindal Vellalar Matriculation Higher Secondary School students R Elakkeiya, G Deepika Sree, G V Nithya Sree won the first and third prizes for their ideas on water hyacinth harvester and prevention of water pollution caused by effluent discharge.
Senthil Public school-Salem students R Khushi Kumari, S Afsana Fatima, and S Sufiya Meharan won second place for their idea of a camera fitted device named 'Saaya' which will guide visually impaired by orally communicating to them about objects ahead.
Other guest of honours, including managing director of Kaveri Bio Proteins Private Limited, Namakkal, Dr PV Senthil and managing director of SKS Hospital Dr V Suresh Kumaran, handed over the prizes and certificates to the winners.