Students from 1,600 schools to compete in contest
Islamabad:March 25:The use of technology has become way of modern day life so its correct usage among the youth particularly among students is the dire need of the hour. We are entering into an era where knowledge coupled with technology will enable us to achieve excellence in all fields.
Keeping in mind this important linkage, Telenor Pakistan in collaboration with Facebook has launched second iChamp competition 2017 under which up to a million school children from 1600 schools from 76 districts across Pakistan are expected to participate in the competition of general knowledge with the help of internet technology. The 12 winners from all parts of the country will appear in a reality show telecast in one selected TV channel by end of this ongoing calendar year.
“We expect that this kind of competition will generate a lot of interest among the youth students who will learn use of technology and also improve their general knowledge,” Bilal Kazmi, Chief Market Officer (CMO) Telenor Pakistan told The News in an exclusive talk last week.
Kazmi seems enthusiastic about the outcome of this competition in the country and said that it would have coverage of whole Pakistan including four provinces as well as AJK and Giligit-Baltistan. This time, he said the students belonging to public sector schools and private sector schools would participate in it which would trigger a lot of interest among the youth.
He said that last time the winner of this competition had visited the office of Telenor in Oslo and met with the top management of our company.
But iChamp competition winner of 2017, he said, would help the whole community as the infrastructure of his or her school would be upgraded with the financial assistance of Telenor Pakistan.
Throwing some light about the initiative, he said that the iChamp is Telenor Pakistan’s countrywide knowledge-based initiative for schoolchildren which apprises them about using internet as a medium of education.
The program aims at brining greater inclusion and empowerment to the younger generation of Pakistan. It is in sync with Telenor Pakistan’s ambition of ushering in a wholesome digital revolution in the country.
First time, iChamp was started back in 2012-13 where the program reached 1,603 schools. It had trained 600,000 students nationwide with 61,380 getting the ‘highly trained’ status.
Now the second iChamp is being organized in partnership with Facebook Free Basics (2017).
The second series of the program aims to cover 1,600 schools in 76 districts across all four provinces, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.
The program is being launched in partnership with Free Basics by Facebook. Under this co-venture of Telenor Pakistan and Facebook, an estimated 600,000 students will be trained by experts through Free Basics with free handbooks and other resources.
The schoolchildren will also be trained about SAFE use of internet. The program will foster the use of internet as a medium of knowledge and empower the youth by providing access to knowledge resources.
The initial phase of the 2017 iChamp entails trainings and competitions covering responsible and positive use of internet at over 1,600 schools nationwide. Three students from each school will be shortlisted for the district-level competition. District level winners will compete at provincial level and the provincial level winners will contest for the national iChamp.
Finally, 12 selected students selected through provincial levels will participate and compete in the iChamp reality show on national TV and the winner will be the ‘Telenor iChamp’ for 2017 who will be able to upgrade his/her school for the betterment of whole community, Bilal Kazmi concluded.The news.
