Handling "The Bharda New High School & Junior College" as a Center In Charge was a big challenge. ASCII wished to incorporate participatory methods of teaching-learning and the school authorities wanted strict discipline to be observed in the classes. It is difficult to ride two horses at a time, and moreover I had a team of entirely new lecturers. But, I made it a point to ensure that slowly but surely, a participative approach was implemented in the classroom.

I was lucky to have gentle people along my side, which made things more easy and effective. The helpful and guiding attitude of Principal towards me and my team was most encouraging. When the immature go wrong somewhere, gentle and mature people, instead of taking him to task, guide him with a positive approach, so that things get rectified and better results are obtained in the future. The same approach and guidance was shown by my seniors towards me and my team mates.

All this has really ensured a smooth passage for our team for the past few months.

The Students of Maneckji Cooper Education Trust School made a clean sweep in the Junior’s Section, while the students of The Alexandra Girls English Institution won the day, with a large lead in the Senior’s Section. The 13th ASCII Inter-School Computer Quiz Competition was held on 11th December, 2004 at The Alexandra Girls’ English Institution auditorium. The winners were pitted against the knowledgeable and enthusiastic teams from The A.F. Petit Girls High School, The New Era School, and The Alexandra Girls’ English Institution, in the Junior’s section and Sir J.J. Girls’ High School, Bai B. S. Bengallee Girls’ High School and Maneckji Cooper Education Trust School in the Senior’s Section. The teams made it to the finals after a tough online preliminary round, held on 10th of December, 2004, in which over 50 teams from Mumbai and outside Mumbai participated.

The highlight of the day was when the teachers and students were given a demonstration of the emerging possibilities of using Information Technology for imparting classroom education. This was achieved, through the use of Class wise, Subject wise and topic wise 3 dimensional animation based software prepared specially for SSC, ICSE and CBSE board curriculum.

The students’ performance was excellent in each round, leaving the audience dazzled with their I. T. Knowledge, their comfort at using computers and quick thinking, especially in the Audiovisual, Bonanza and Puzzle Rounds. The audience watched with bated breath as each successive round unfolded. The rounds included the Jumpstart, Quick Fire, Visual, Who am I, Buzzer, Bonanza and Puzzle rounds. This year the students found the online nature of the various rounds quite a challenge. The winning teams have been crowned the “Whiz Kids of the Year”, and are well on their way to joining our elite corps of I. T. professionals, who have made a mark the world over with their genius and innovation.

The Competition was conducted by the reputed Information Technology Solutions organization, Advanced School of Computer Information, India Pvt. Ltd., which has been providing total I. T. solutions to educational institutions in Maharashtra and Gujarat for the past 17 years.