KOZHIKODE: Sasthramela aims at nurturing young talents, but its relevance and the genuineness have turned to be a point of discussion. Experts feel it has become a farce and many judges are not at all convinced if projects were the real brainchild of children for extra professionalism and mechanism. One of the judges who evaluated the social science fair as part of Sasthramela said 90 percent of the exhibits are not. "Two reasons for this is the lack of explanation from students on its making and the professionalism seen in each piece of work," he told DC.
Mohan N.P., a carpenter who came from Palakkad with his son, says the boy even has the skills in making furniture, which he has exhibited live. "But months before the announcement of Sasthramela we get enquiries from schools and parents if we could make models for them to exhibit. There are many teachers and artists from my place who get brisk business during this season," he said. "This malpractice should stop at any cost and education department should implement some mechanism to identify the genuineness." He wants Sasthramela to be a platform for students to showcase their innovation and not schools or teachers or experts.
Robotics steal the show
The third day of Kerala School Science, Maths, Social science and IT fair (Sasthramela) 2017- 18 on Saturday witnessed several competitions in the higher secondary category. Kannur took the lead followed by Thrissur and Palakkad. The major highlight of the day was the robotics exhibition, conducted by the Robotics Interest Group (RIG) of colleges, including National Institute of Technology- Calicut, at Nadakkavu Girl’s Higher Secondary School.
The NIT-C students also exhibited their NAO robot developed mainly as a helping hand for the children who have autism. The robot costs Rs 15 lakh, and they purchased it for research purposes. "We are now moving ahead with the mission to develop a similar technology,” said Harikrishnan D., a physics student.
Biodegradable plastic from shrimp shells
When talks are going on about the damages plastic menace causes to the environment, two students from Carmel HSS, Chalakudy, have come forward with one that is biodegradable. They say the plastic they invented, Chito Wrapper, is purely natural and causes no harm to the environment as it is made out of shrimp shell. Ayana Sunny and Sreeparvathy, the brain behind the project, say fish centres or markets usually burn tonnes of shrimp shells as there is no other option.
Ayana Sunny, Sreeparvathy with their exhibit
They have up with a mechanism to convert them into plastic in different thickness according to the needs. Ayana said, “First the shrimp shell waste is converted for autolysis, which further undergoes demineralisation and deproteinization process, resulting in chitin. Later the chitin is converted in deacetylation and at last chitosan. We are planning to present it to the government to popularise the idea."
