Jalandhar girl wins prestigious Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE award

Jaspreet Kaur with the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE Award in Jalandhar on Friday. (HT Photo)

Jalandhar girl Jaspreet Kaur has won the prestigious Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE award for her idea on “Colour Coded Thermometer”. She was one of the 31 students who bagged the award out of the 28,000 entries received by National Innovation of India (NIF), an autonomous body of the department of science and technology, which gives the award every year to students with innovative and original ideas.

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE Award is a national competition of original technological ideas and innovations by children up to class 12 or those out of school up to the age of 17 years. The competition is organised by NIF in association with Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Honey Bee Network, other state educational boards and other partners every year to promote creativity and originality among children.

Jaspreet, a class 10 student of Police DAV Public School, while explaining the idea said, “In my idea, one can find temperature using colours in thermometer. If a person has low body temperature then it shows blue light; if it is on the higher side then it shows red light and if the body temperature is normal then it shows green light. This thermometer will be helpful for those people who do not know how to check temperature on a thermometer.”

Jaspreet was awarded by President of India Pranab Mukherjee on November 30 at a function organised at IIM, Ahmadabad. When asked about the experience of meeting the President, an elated Jaspreet said, “I was on cloud nine after receiving the award from him.”

Planning to opt for non-medical stream in class 11, Jaspreet added that adopting scientific and rational approach towards life was need of the hour and people must adopt science in their lives.

It must be mentioned that the students of the school have been getting this award for the last seven years. The school has made a “Honeybee Club”, taking inspiration from honeybee philosophy of National Innovation of India. It collects innovative ideas and sends it to NIF for the IGNITE competition every year. The awards of IGNITE competition are announced every year on October 15, which Dr APJ Abdul Kalama’s birthday, which is celebrated as the Children’s Creativity and Innovation Day by NIF.

Dr Rashmi Vij, principal, Police DAV Public School, said the school always inspired the students to think differently and to bring innovation in their ideas. “The participation of students from Punjab schools in such prestigious competitions is very thin and it must be increased. I will write a letter to the chief minister to encourage everyone to take part in such competitions,” she added.

Source: The Hindustan Times dated 15 December, 2015