N-SPECC GENIUS 2016 – ‘INSPIRED QUIZZING’ - ABSMIDS

3rd July 2016, Sunday was a memorable one for 75 children and 1000’s of onlookers not just because they were part of an exciting quiz that was fought over 3 rounds and over 16 schools at the popular forum mall, but because every team had an enriching experience in inclusivity during these 4 hours. While all children were from the high school age group, what separated this quiz from all other quizzes is that each team had one visually challenged participant, one speech and hearing challenged participant, one participant from a government public school and one from a private school.

For the city of Mangalore this was a big step in the area of inclusivity and providing inspiration to specially-abled people. The event was primarily sponsored by Nitte University as a part of N-SPECC - Nitte Special Child Care project. It was organized by Mangalore Coastal Round Table 190.

At the end of the event, a team of 5 high school students were crowned as “Genius 2016”. True to the spirit of the event, it was remarkable that the five children had a mix of specially-abled (speech & hearing challenged, visually challenged), Kannada medium and English medium students. The quiz was conducted in two rounds (semi-finals and finals) with each having 5 types of question formats. With 12 teams in total and 5 children in a team, there were a total of 60 participants. These comprised an equal mix of children from private schools, government (public schools), SDM Mangala Institute, Vamanjoor (speech and hearing challenged category), Rangarao Memorial School, Mysore and Roman and Catherine School for the Visually Challenged (visually challenged category).

The quiz saw a great deal of activity from the students who immediately managed to pick up the format and also overcome their hesitation of dealing with people who are abled differently than themselves. It was everyone’s observation that this format of a mixed team greatly improved their sensitivity and understanding of natural barriers. There was no better way than this quiz, to prove the point that specially-abled children can and will contribute equally to every facet of life provided the environment is inclusive, supportive and friendly. N-SPECC and Mangalore Coastal Round Table 190 are strongly committed to this objective and this was one of the key reasons for the introduction of this concept.

Special Rounds The rounds of the quiz had been carefully formulated to maintain this inclusive environment and atmosphere of team work. As an example, the answers to the rounds were mandated to be written down after discussion within the team, before they hit the buzzer. This ensured that even the hearing impaired children in the team would not be left out of the action. The braille round and charades round turned out to be the most interesting.

Braille Round: In this round the question to the participants was ONLY given to them in braille script – the script used by the visually challenged to read and write. Once the visually challenged student had deciphered the questions, it was up to all the other team mates to jointly answer the question before hitting the buzzer. This led to a lot of cohesion between the teams and their understanding of the finer details of reading braille.

Charades Round: In this round ONLY the speech challenged student was shown a visual of a person or an object and this student had to enact it to the other students who would have to decipher their actions in order to crack the quiz.

The Final Round, the Winners and Runners-Up There were six teams that qualified for the final round. The last two rounds saw great excitement and a nail biting finish with the teams led by teams that were competing for the top spot. Each of the special students won many hearts for their near perfect performance of enacting of personalities like MS Dhoni and Adolf Hitler. They led their team to win the quiz in the end making their contribution even more special.

In a closely contested contest the quiz was won by the team comprising
Suraksha (speech & hearing challenged category – SDM Mangalajyothi School)
Yakshith (visually challenged category – Roman & Catherine School)
Rajalaxmi (public school category – Govt High School, Bokkapattana)
Vedanth K (private school category – Milagres High School)
Vineeth Shenoy (private school category – Milagres High School)

The runners up were Mithun (speech & hearing challenged category – SDM Mangalajyothi School)
Uma (visually challenged category – Rangarao Memorial High School)
Abhinandana (visually challenged category – Rangarao Memorial High School)
Jnaneshwar (public school category – Govt High School, Bokkapattana)
Geetha (public school category – Govt High School, Gandhinagar)
Chirag Baliga (private school category – Canara High School, Urwa)

Additionally, there were two special prize categories
Uma M, Rangarao Memorial School) Best Braille Category Participant (Visually challenged) Harshith, SDM Mangalajyothi School of Integrated Learning, Best Charades Participant, (Speech and Hearing challenged) Prizes

The winning team was given prizes by Nitte University in the form of trophies, certificates and a cash prize of Rs 20,000/- to be used for education in the form of a fixed deposit redeemable after 3 years. The runners up won trophies, certificates and also some gifts. The audience round prizes were sponsored by Sapna Bookhouse, Splash Store, Jimmy’s supermarket and S.L. Shet jewellers. All participants were provided certificates of appreciation for their participation.

Inauguration and Chief Guests The event was inaugurated by Mr. UT Khader, Honorable minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Govt. of Karnataka. It was also attended by Dr. Ramananda Shetty, Vice-Chancellor Nitte University, Sr. Prof Dr. Amita Hegde, Head of Dept. of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, AB Shetty Institute of Dental Sciences and Dr. Amarshree Shetty, BDS MDS, Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, AB Shetty Institute of Dental Sciences.

Mr. UT Khader gave an encouraging talk to the children and also to the organizers from Mangalore Coastal round Table and Primary sponsors Nitte university to have many more such events. Dr. Ramananda Shetty gave a very meaningful message to the students about the importance of inclusivity and the spirit of collaboration between students of different abilities. Sr. Prof Dr. Amita Hegde and Dr. Amarshree Shetty gave a detailed overview of the N-SPECC initiative from NITTE University and added that it was their vision that anyone who thought about medical care for special children would think about their institute as the first option.

Interesting Quotes Some quotes from people who attended:
“This is a unique type of quiz that makes us think about the specially abled. The members of Round Table Mangalore should be praised for introducing this concept that is possibly a first in the state or even further. With such a good forum for all these children, we can only wish that more and more of such events are held and they involve more and more people.” Mr UT Khader, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Govt. of Karnataka

“I am happy to be among you all today and see you collaborating here together to win this quiz.. I would like to offer the services of N-SPECC initiative by Nitte University to everyone here for special child care that we are so eager to further.” Dr. Ramananda Shetty, Vice-Chancellor, Nitte University

“Partnering with Nitte University on this special program brings a meaningful angle to this event. We are extremely proud and excited to jointly host this event” Colin Pinto, Chairman MCRT190

“We are truly proud to have met our objective of proving that specially-abled children can perform equally well as all others provided the environment is inclusive” Neil Rodrigues, Project Convenor, MCRT190

“I have hosted so many quizzes in my life, but this is the one that has a special place in my heart. I am truly moved by the concept and so excited to be a part of it. The joy and satisfaction from this event was amazing. I am very happy with that” Dr. Vishwas Pai, President of Mangalore Quizzing Foundation

“This is the first of its kind experience for our children from Mysore. It has been such a great experience that we wish it could happen again and again we would visit every time.” Harish, CSR Executive, NR Group

“I had come to the mall for evening shopping with my family and saw this very interesting quiz taking place. I asked my family to go ahead shopping and I stayed back here till the end because I was so impressed by the childrens’ abilities” Shankara Murthy, audience member