Indian quiz contest for kids being held in Pakistan

BANGALORE - Around 10,000 people from Pakistan have in views posted on Facebook welcomed the holding of the ‘Horlicks Wizkids 2010′ quiz contest in three Pakistani cities, to select finalists for the Nov 25 South Asian finals involving India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, an official said.

The ‘Horlicks Wizkids 2010′ is being held in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi this week to select nine students from Pakistan for the South Asian finals to be held in this tech hub.

Organised by EduMedia India Ltd in association with GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, the maker of health food drink Horlicks, the three-day event will be held in Lahore Tuesday, in Islamabad Nov 4 and Karachi Nov 7 to select three students from each Pakistani city for the finals Nov 25.

“The contest is the only Indian kids’ event being held in Pakistan to compete with participants from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka in the South Asian quiz finals,” EduMedia managing director Syed Sultan Ahmed told IANS.

Leading Pakistani personalities, including cricketers and singers will be on the jury to select the three finalists from each city.

“We are expecting about 5,000 students from 250 schools to participate in the pre-final events in Pakistan,” Ahmed said.

The pre-final contests were held across 20 cities in India since July where 200,000 students from 3,000 schools participated.

Three students each from Kathmandu in Nepal and Colombo in Sri Lanka have been selected for the finals.

“By organising the quiz contest in Pakistan, we are taking a message of participation to the children in Pakistan,” Ahmed said.

He said the response from students, schools and the people of Pakistan was overwhelming. About 10,000 net-savvy Pakistani fans posted their views in Facebook on the contest, saying such events would encourage friendship among the children of the two countries in the region.

“It has been a challenge organizing the event in Pakistan as our application for three visas was originally rejected. We were, however, able to convince Pakistani deputy high commissioner Syed Zulfiqar Gardezi in New Delhi of the purpose of our visit,” Ahmed recalled.

Though EduMedia has been conducting the annual event since 1997-98 across India, this is the first time it has decided to rope in schools from Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Ahmed is also a member of the academic advisory committee in the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi and an advisory on secondary education in the Karnataka Knowledge Commission here.