NEW DELHI, Feb 5: The Union Ministry of Education in cooperation with the Ministry of External Affairs arranged a four-day India-ASEAN (The Association of South-East Asian Nations) Hackathon from 1-4 February 2021.
The Hackathon implemented by The All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) with the help of nodal agencies from all ten ASEAN countries including their education ministries and prominent universities stems from the announcement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 16th ASEAN-India Summit in Bangkok in November 2019.
The event Inaugurated on 01 February by education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal along with other officials from ASEAN and India, consisted of 330 students and 110 mentors working together online for 36 hours and contested as 55 teams to come up with creative answers to 11 problem statements. The Problem Statements covered two major themes – Blue Economy and Education.
The multinational character of each team was, planned to forge the spirit, of cooperation, to open the members, to an awareness of different cultures, beliefs and work ethic.
S Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs, and Pokhriyal welcomed the hard work, spirit and imagination of the participants at an award ceremony on Thursday.
Speaking at the ceremony, Jaishankar claimed that ASEAN-India Youth cooperation is a core component of the ASEAN-India strategic partnership and that the Hackathon compliments India’s other youth-centric ASEAN initiatives. He emphasised the value of ‘Blue Economy’ and ‘Education’ in ASEAN-India interaction and commended their inclusion as the two themes of the Hackathon.
The ASEAN Award Distribution Ceremony was attended, by senior ministers from Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam, indicating a common, willingness to foster ASEAN-India youth cooperation. Winners were declared on the occasion of all 11 issue statements.
(Venkatesh Iyer)
