Students from Government High School, Chümoukedima village who represented Nagaland at Hackathon in Bengaluru.
Dimapur, February 24 (MExN): Students from Government High School, Chümoukedima village who represented Nagaland with their prototype ‘Smart Terrace Field’ were awarded with Local Creator trophy for using indigenous knowledge systems with a blend of technology at the National Green Hackathon in Bengaluru.
The week-long National Green hackathon ‘Hack to the Future- the Green Edition’ organised by Quest Alliance was conducted from February 16 to 10 with participation from high school students of 12 states including Nagaland, Karnataka, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Assam, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Haryana.
A press release from Nuneseno Chase, Director, YouthNet stated that the ‘Smart Terrace Field’ uses four sensors to protect their fields from animal’s intrusion. Ultrasonic Sensor which detects the movement of animals and produce the buzzer sound, IR Sensor which detects snakes and rats and produces vibration, soil moisture sensor which automatically runs according to the soil moisture of the field and automatic light which detects darkness and produces light at night.
“The student created this to ease the burden of their parents because they have seen them suffering from crop failure from the intrusion of wild animals in their field which causes shortage of food supply for the family throughout the year,” she stated.
Liyen, a Class 10 student from GHS Chümoukedima Village said she tried her hands at electronics after never having done so before. “We have lights and fans at home, but learning the circuits and the motors, I got a better idea of how they work.”
The other team member, T Molo Phom added, “All of us worked together on the three sensors and the mentor taught us how to solder the wire. I identified the locations for soldering the components. It is the first time I worked with electronic devices. I wanted to learn more and improvise on the mechanism.”
Mary Rhi, Science teacher, GHS Chümoukedima who also accompanied the students to the event said she is grateful to YouthNet and C Amongla, Headmistress, GHS Chümoukedima village for the unwavering support towards the betterment of children.
“There are so many take away from this event,” says Hikou Mekrisu, Program Facilitator YouthNet. “I have realised that our people need to start asking questions to our students and really start listening to them and find gems in their words because that is when magic happens,” Mekrisu added.
The Hackathon is part of the IBM STEM for Girls program, designed to encourage problem-solving and an innovation mindset among students.
In Nagaland, this program is implemented in 69 Government High Schools in Chümoukedima, Dimapur, Kohima, Kiphire, Niuland and Tseminyu by YouthNet in partnership with IBM, Department of School Education, Government of Nagaland and Quest Alliance.
