The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Map reading can be fun too!

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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Map reading can be fun too!

Staff Reporter

Seven hundred students from 50 schools take part in the 19th GeoMap Quiz

— PHOTO: NAGARA GOPAL

TEST OF SKILLS: Schoolchildren participating in the ’GeoMap Quiz-2009’ at NTR Gardens on Saturday.

HYDERABAD: NTR Gardens was abuzz with activity. Children, dressed in their school uniforms were on their toes. Like commandoes in a search and rescue mission they went about hunting down the landmarks asked for in a Google Earth image of the park.

Meanwhile, another group of children, seated under the shade of a tree, were busy strategising relief operations in the flood-ravaged Kurnool district.

They had much to plan: locate headquarters and medical camp (s) nearest to the affected areas, identify motorable and alternative routes and arrange motorboats, rations and relief material from district headquarters or any other place(s) they might be available at.

A daunting task at hand, they carefully scanned the map hung to a tree and jotted down the answers on a sheet of paper while watching out for flood-affected regions and avoiding straying near tributaries of Krishna River.

Seven hundred students from 50 schools actively participated in the finals of the 19th edition of GeoMap Quiz, an annual event organised by GeoMap Society (GEMS) here on Saturday.

Consisting of four rounds, Map Fun, Map Planning (relief operations), Map Drawing and Skill Test, it had the children engrossed.

“It was fun. Map drawing was tough but we enjoyed the other rounds,” said Prathyusha of St. Anthony’s High School, Jeedimetla. “I didn’t know where Imphal is,” she said sheepishly.

‘Good orientation’

Geography teachers accompanying the students were not idle either. They too had to prove their abilities with the map. “This quiz is to make the students aware of maps and their uses in day to day life. Map studying is a good orientation to their thought processes,” said Major Shiva Kiran, convener of the quiz.

“Everyone is right. Some are more right than the others but no one is absolutely right, exactly like life,” observed G. S. Kumar, president, GEMS, drawing philosophy of the skill test round.

Winners

Balachandra Reddy, Akhil and Anagh Kumar of Bhavan’s Sri Ramakrishna Vidyalaya, Sainikpuri; Raghav Pandey, Srijith R and Ameya Phadke of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Jubilee Hills and U. Ashwin, K.Anirudh and S.S.V.S. Yeshwanth of Obul Reddy Public School, Jubilee Hills won the first, second and third prizes respectively in seniors category.

Vineth Pandey, Kushwand Reddy and Sri Harsha Reddy of DAV BDL School, Kukatpally; CV Sai Akash, M. Manikanta and G. Nishant Reddy of DAV BDL School, Bahanoor; and P. Vinoathna, P. Sreeya and G.N. Shreya of Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet were the first, second and third prize winners in juniors category. All participants received certificates.

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