While an adult may get stumped with these questions, kids from class IV to VIII faced them easily and walked away with a great score and applause. Six lucky students, however, got more than just accolades on Tuesday evening — Rs 1 lakh each as prize money.
A total of 198 students reached the last stage of Gujarat Quiz after getting selected from a total of 28 lakh original participants in 2010.
Pranav Adhyaru, one of the organizers of the event, told TOI that it was an arduous task that continued for an entire year. "The concept was to offer a quiz exclusively on Gujarat, prodding the students to know more about the state. Today, the question bank of around 5,000 questions is used for aspirants of exams like GPSC," he said.
It was a day of smaller centres. The winners emerged from places such as Patan, Mehsana and Himmatnagar, leaving behind big cities and metros. Pankaj Prajapati, a class VII student from Dhadhana village, around 55 km from Patan, was one of the lucky winners.
"Winning such an amount is like a dream. I was prepared to take any question though. I studied the specially-designed book by the state government for last five months and practised it with friends and teachers. The high point of the event was meeting the chief minister. He asked me about my ambitions," said the 12-year-old boy.
On the occasion Shri Modi said, ‘Gujarat Quiz is serving as a means for all those who want to get authentic information about Gujarat. Moreover, with this quiz, people get knowledge in a fun way, which is much more satisfying than general knowledge exercises’.
Shri Narendra Modi announced to arrange a special online quiz competition on the life and works of Swami Vivekananda to mark his 150th birth anniversary in 2012. Chief Minister announced this on the final round of Gujarat Quiz Competition for the students of school and colleges of all over Gujarat, held today at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar.
Principal Secretary for Education Hasmukh Adhiya, on the occasion, called upon people to take the online quiz and test their own knowledge about Gujarat.
Education Minister Ramanlal Vora, Minister of State for Education Jaysinhji Chauhan, Smt.Vasuben Trivedi, senior level Secretaries, government officials, students and their parents coming from all over Gujarat were present on the occasion.