Questions and Answers filled the air at BDVS Patna Office earlier this month, when some 91 children from three districts congregated to take part in an Independence Day Quiz contest. The event was part of the ongoing Quality Education Campaign, and featured the members of Ambedkar Prerna Kendras. Ambedkar Prerna Kendras are clubs for those children with a commitment to struggle for quality education within their communities.

These children, from among the most economically and socially depressed communities, who are pledged to discover at least five new things every day, are more articulate and aware than before, and well on the way to take on leadership roles within the school campus. They were accompanied by 12 facilitators who helped moderate the groups.

BDVS organized the Quiz competition on the 14th August,2016. The programme was by 10.30 AM, with a warm welcome by Bihar Dalit Vikas Director Dr.Fr. Anto Joseph.

The facilitators divided the children into six groups of 15 each, with each district having two teams. Each chid within the group was given a numbered badge (from 1 to 15)

1stRound
In this round, a question each was posed to each group member individually, and a point awarded if the participant gave a correct answer. If not, the correct answer was announced. In this way the first eliminations took place.

2nd Round
The second round also took place within the groups, with the selected children now facing four questions with a 20 second time-slot for each answer. A participant could score a maximum of four marks in this round.

3rd Round
In the third round, each child had 5 seconds to answer a question. If a child was not able to answer, then it passed to the next for in 3 seconds or to a thirdfor 2 seconds answer it.

This round was followed by a break and refreshments for all.

Final Round
The individual points were tallied and there was a total of 16 contestants eligible for the grand finale, that had four rounds. One child was selected to help out the quiz master.

This time the audience fielded the questions that the individual contestants dropped, and there was a lot of excitement and audience participation.

The final round was a little tense as the participants were under pressure, but the quiz master kept their spirits up. Each round concluded with a song from the audience. In this way, the atmosphere was lively and participatory.

The quiz came to a close with (Barh) Ambedkar Prerna Kendra Children’s group in the lead.Budhan Kumar with 11.5 points was declared first, Bittu was second and third place went jointly to Manita Kumari,Aanshu Kumari and Anil Kumar. The winner wasgiven cash and small gifts. All the final round participants were given gifts.

To bring the programme to a close the Director BDVS gave a small speech and thanked all the participants,teachers and guardians,as well as animators for joining us in this contest and making it a great success. We were really happy to have this programme.