Language should not be a barrier to assessing students' intelligence quotient (IQ), Regional Passport Officer B. Balamurugan said here on Monday.
“Language is only a medium of communication and the ability to converse in a language does not reflect students' intelligence,” he said at the prize distribution ceremony of The Hindu Newspaper in Education Initiative's online IQ contest.
The newspaper organised the event in association with Everonn Education Limited and EASA College of Engineering, which sponsored the prizes.
Mr. Balamurugan suggested that the online IQ contest be held in two or three languages so that speakers of different languages had equal opportunity to compete and exhibit their talents.
People from the rural areas had better skills than their counterparts from urban areas, he said and pointed out that the former fared better in approaching government offices and filling forms, simple things that people from urban areas were not very confident of.
He asked the students who did not win prizes, and their parents, not to lose heart. They should take it in the right spirit and make another attempt in the next year's event.
High IQ alone did not guarantee success in life.
Discipline, hard work, honesty and integrity were important to come up in life, he said and asked parents to instil discipline in students.
T.D. Eswaramoorthy, chairman, EASA College of Engineering and Technology, said teachers and parents played a key role in shaping students' future.
He also spoke on the Union and State Governments' efforts to improve higher education.
K. Sathiyan, head, Sales and Marketing, Everonn Education Limited, said the company was in to technology-enabled learning, providing virtual, interactive classroom experience on the web.
The motto was learning while playing, he said and added that classontheweb.com portal had animation in plenty to help the students learn easy.
He said he was happy to note that more than 3,000 students had participated in the quiz that was held for students of Standard VI to XII in the region.
Arjun Varma, student of Vidya Niketan Higher Secondary School, said participation in the event was challenging and helped him develop lateral thinking. T. Haritha of Bharathi Matriculation Higher Secondary School said she was happy participating in the event and requested The Hindu to provide more such opportunities for students to showcase talents.
D. Rajkumar, Regional General Manager, The Hindu , welcomed the gathering and said the quiz would be an annual event.
R. Sanjay Sathyadev of Perks Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Edwin V. of Carmel Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Erode, and M. Mithun of S.J. Niketan School, Kallar, won the first, second and third prizes in the Standard VI to VIII category.
Mohammed Rashad of Islamiah Matriculation School, V. Sarankumar of Vidya Vikasini School and R. Krishna of SBIOA Matriculation School secured the first, second and third places in the Standard IX and X category.
Arjun Varma of Vidya Niketan Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Vimal Kumar Dubey of Carmel Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Erode, and Sasikumar of Erode Hindu Kalvi Nilayam, Erode, secured the top three spots in the Plus-One and Plus-Two category.
The first prize winners were given Rs. 5,000, the second prize winners got Rs. 2,000 and the third prize winners went home with Rs. 1,000.
Students who won consolation prizes – there were 10 prizes in each category – got Rs. 200, all of which were sponsored by EASA College of Engineering and Technology.
All the prize winners also get a year's free subscription to www.classontheweb.com
