Mangaluru: NICO hosts ILA 2019 to mark World Earth Day

Mangaluru, Jan 8: The centenary year of St. Agnes College got off to a grand start on January 3, 2020 with a day of commemoration that involved staff, students, alumni and benefactors. The college is all set to celebrate its centenary with the community of Mangaluru on January 10, 2020 from 9.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m with a daylong festival – Knowledge Factory. It will be held at the newly inaugurated air-conditioned auditorium with over 1000 attendees expected to be present. 

KNOWLEDGE FACTORY is the first of the five mega centenary programmes that St. Agnes College has envisaged.  The Promise Foundation and niiti Consulting – two organisations headquartered in the national capital under the mentorship of veteran journalist Madhavan Narayan are collaborating with the college to bring this event to Mangaluru for the first time.  A dozen icons will share the stage throughout the day and bring forth their thoughts and ideas enabling a culture of learning through fire-side chats and keynotes. 

The speakers include Lisa Ray, Indo-Canadian Actor and Author; Sunil Buch, Director, Live Nation; Dipannita Sharma, Actor and Supermodel; Kriti Tula, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Doodlage; Nandini Srikar, Singer and Composer; Prakash Belawadi, Movie and Theatre Actor,  Manasi Paresh Kumar, Senior Journalist; Swati Pande, Co-Founder and CEO, Arboreal; Anuradha Kedia Parekh, Co-Founder, The Better India; Arokiaswamy Velumani, Founder and Chairman, Thyrocare Technologies; Heena Sidhu, the former world  number 1 pistol shooter. The event anchor will be the celebrity news reader Rini Simon Khanna who has been anchoring the event since its first edition in 2017.

Gaurava Yadav, a well-known quiz master will conduct a quiz focussed on History.  Based on a written prelims that will take place at 8.15 am in the designated room, four teams of two members each will compete in the finals at 4.45 pm. The winning team will receive a prize of INR 30,000 and the runner up team will receive INR.20,000/-    

The event is put together by social entrepreneurs - Meena Vadiyanathan and Amith Prabhu (who is of Mangalorean origin). All who desire to attend the event and participate in the quiz may buy donor passes costing Rs 500/- per head which includes lunch.  Sale of donor passes will close on the 8th. The college cordially invites the community of Mangaluru to join hands with it in making this programme a great success. 

Mangaluru, Jan 2: Shwetha Rasquinha, Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of Social Work, St Aloysius College, Mangaluru, has been awarded Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree by the Mangalore University for her thesis titled “Effectiveness of Social work intervention on caretakers of cancer patients- A social work study in Mangalore”.

She did her studies under the guidance of Dr Rameela Shekhar, Professor (Rtd), School of Social work, Roshni Nilaya, Mangaluru.

Ms Shwetha Rasquinha hails from Vittal, D/o Vincent Rasquinha and Late Regina Rasquinha, and is the second person to complete doctoral studies from the Vittal Parish.

Her colleagues and well-wishers have congratulated her for her highest achievement in academics and successful completion of quality research.

Mangaluru, Jan 3: Vishruth Bhat, a Class VI student from CFAL is the topper in Dakshina Kannada District in the first round of the VVM examination (VI Standard category) and now advances to the ‘State Level Camp’.  Proving their mettle, 12 students from CFAL have qualified for the “State Level Camp” of Vidyarthi Vigyan Manthan (VVM) - a national programme to educate and popularise science for classes VI – XI. A total of 129 students are selected from Karnataka to participate in the State Level Camp, out of which around 9.30% students are from CFAL. These students were selected on the basis of their performances in the first stage, an online exam. The State level camp shall include written test, observational analysis of video clips, situation problem solving and hands on activities.

The selected students are:  B Vishruth Bhat, Pratham D, Chinmayee Adiga, Chirag J Sunil, Nidhi Noronha, K Sai Prathiksha, Aryan Atul Surana, Rakshith K R, Anupama Kamath, Krithi, Mavith Saldanha and Vignaraj. Among the selected students Kirti, Mavith and Vihnaraj are TLC PU College students.

About VVM:

VVM is a national program jointly organized by Vijnana Bharati, NCERT and Vigyan Prasar for educating and popularizing science among the school students of Classes VI to XI. The main objective of the program is to identify keen knowledge seekers in Science and then nurture them for higher level of science education. Students participating in VVM undergo the following multi-level testing procedures:

•        Objective type question answering

•        Comprehensive writing

•        Presentation and Group discussion

•        Role play

•        Practical examination

•        Methods of Science

The program also includes organising visits to reputed National Science Laboratories and Centres. To enable deserving students to have interaction with renowned scientists of the Nation. The VVM will identify Vigyan Jigyasu (Keen Knowledge Seeker of Science) at National level.  

This exam is conducted in three phases.  The first phase is an online exam conducted in the school itself.  In the second phase (State level camp) top 20 rankers per class, per state will be identified to participate in two days State Level Camp. Eminent scholars and scientists from different fields will guide the students. Practical examination will be conducted to select top 2 students from each class to participate in the national camp. Toppers will get certificates and cash awards.

In the third phase (National camp) which is a 2-day camp, comprise presentations, scientific understanding, innovation, and creativity, out of box activities and assessment of leadership qualities. Toppers are awarded with certificates and cash awards.