KARSTEN MIRANDA
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PANJIM: In a feat that has made the State proud, a young student from Goa, won the national level ‘Google Code To Learn Contest 2021’, while another student of the same age was the finalist for the same prestigious and fiercely-contested competition.
Both the boys, who are Class 6 students, came out with mobile apps, which impressed the judges in the ‘Google Code to Learn Contest’.
The winner, Venkatesh Yatish Dempo from Sharada Mandir School, Miramar presented his mobile app titled ‘Tourism De Goa’ as his competition entry.
The finalist Viraj Vishwanath Marathe from Dr K B Hedgewar Vidyamandir, Sanquelim, presented his mobile app ‘Covi companion’ as his competition entry.
The two students, aged 12, had reached the final round in the Classes 5 & 6 (Scratch and App Inventor) category, with Dempo emerging as the champion and Marathe as one of the top finalists.
While ‘Scratch and App Inventor’ are coding platforms/languages, both these students designed their respective mobile applications using the MIT App Inventor.
MIT App Inventor is an intuitive, visual programming environment that allows children – to build fully functional apps for Android phones, iPhones, and Android/iOS tablets. It is a Blocks-based coding program that inspires intellectual and creative empowerment. It provides a simple interface allowing kids to build mobile apps without typing long lines of code.
Interestingly, the two students are part of an impressive Goan group, consisting of students aged between 8 and 12 years that is called LegoGoa.
LegoGoa members gave an insight about the apps created by Dempo and Marathe for the national competition.
The first was Dempo’s Tourism De Goa app.
“Goa is the tourism capital of India & many tourists visit this beautiful place every year. To make it easier for the tourists, he (Dempo) designed this mobile application ‘Tourism De Goa, which has a bunch of features which guide the tourists to different places such as temples, museums, beaches, hotels & more,” said a LegoGoa member.
“The app also includes information about Goan culture & cuisines. All features are available in the application right from a camera button to the website of the temples, etc,” he added.
The second was Marathe’s ‘Covi Companion’ app.
“He (Marathe) had prepared ‘Covi Companion’. This mobile application helps Covid+ patients with their quarantine (15 days) period in various ways,” said the LegoGoa member.
“The App has built-in features like Daily check, Pedometer, Covid-19 Info, Cowin info, etc, to facilitate daily routine and get in touch with doctors if need arises. ‘Covi Companion’ app is companion in true sense as it tries to help patients in the fight against Covid,” he added.
It is to be noted that this achievement by the two students is not the first time, LegoGoa students have emerged victorious in such types of competitions where they are competing with the best talent of the country.
The group has been steadily making a name for themselves not only in India but even at global competitions like the annual World Robotics Olympiad, National level championship. And this certainly won’t be their last achievement.
“Coding and Robotics is a great learning tool and the students have leapfrogged immensely with this exposure. Hence, we have made it our mission to reach out to maximum kids in Goa and now parents of other kids are involved in the process,” said a parent.
