Ghaziabad girl students win national competition with their ‘unique’ innovation

Two students from Ghaziabad bagged the first and fourth place for their innovation and creativity in a national competition organized by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) –Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow

Two students from Ghaziabad bagged the first and fourth place for their innovation and creativity in a national competition organized by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) –Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow.

Class 10 student Dhruvi Gupta created an ‘innovative easy toothbrush’, which won her the first prize in the competition (Sourced)

The competition called Empowering Pupil innovation and Creativity, (EPIC) 2021 was conducted by CSIR –Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, as a part of CSIR Jigyasa, an initiative taken by the CSIR to inspire and motivate the youth to develop innovative scientific thought process and temperament.

As part of the selection criteria, 25 entries were shortlisted from more than 3,000 total entries received from all over the country. For the next round, students had to present their innovation in the form of a power point presentation in front of a panel of judges consisting of scientists & educationists, for which the CSIR conducted mentoring sessions in order to refine and improve the students’ innovation.

Class 10 student Dhruvi Gupta created an ‘innovative easy toothbrush’, which won her the first prize in the competition. “This toothbrush is designed with the aim to enable people to maintain their oral hygiene even when they are travelling. It is a long thin stretch of sterile paper which can be wrapped around the finger and used to brush teeth. It is similar to a paper soap and needs just a drop of water to become a toothpaste,” said Dhruvi.

The 15-year-old added, “This project will not only help travellers but will also benefit police officers, soldiers, astronauts and the underprivileged as it costs only ₹1 for two strips of paper. This price will further decrease when the product is manufactured in bulk”.

Dhruvi has been working on the project since she was in Class 7, said Sunila Athley, principal of Amity International School, Vasundhara in Ghaziabad.

“Dhruvi had done her research before starting the project; the product was developed a year later when she was in Class 8. The product had to be tested multiple times and it was a year later that the final product was ready,” said Athley.

Dhruvi says she wants to be a space scientist when she grows up and has interest in space aeronautics. She was given ₹10,000 as prize money for winning the competition.

Meanwhile, Class 9 student Adite Sharma, who is also from the same school, was declared the third runner-up for her innovation titled “Suraksha Kit” and was awarded a cash prize of ₹5,000. The Suraksha Box is a Ultraviolet C (UVC)-light based sanitization box that disinfects a wide variety of things such as keys, masks, wallets and so on.

“As the pandemic hit the world in March 2020, the need for sanitization became of utmost importance. I started working on a UV light-led sterilization box for household use. My father, who is also an engineer, helped me with the same and two weeks later, the box was ready to use,” said the 14-year-old.

In order to use the box, the product to be sanitized can be placed inside the box and the process starts after switching it on. “The UV light rays kill 99% of the germs and infection on the product. The box also has an emergency cut off switch, which immediately stops the radiation in case someone opens the box while it is under process,” said Adite, a resident of Indirapuram.

School principal Athley said the school encourages creative and innovative thinking among the students right from Class 5.

“The school runs a programme called Vasudha for students above Class 5 wherein, during the summer holidays, they are encouraged to think about an idea, which can be a project or a prototype. When the school reopens, the students hold presentations for their idea and teachers give them inputs on the same. These initiatives have helped our students achieve accolades and we are very proud of them,” said Athley.