Govt school student wins coveted award

A student of a government school won the prestigious ICT award for developing a home appliance control mobile application entirely on his own. The application works by using a server that connects all electronic appliances with a mobile phone.

The winner, Saqib Tanvir, said he belonged to a middle-class family and hard work and dedication earned him the award. He said the overwhelming public impression was that a student from a government school could not achieve big feats, but he proved the notion as incorrect. He added that his school in Kholian Bala had better IT equipment than the private schools in the Haripur district, which became a blessing for hard-working students.

He said students from big private schools across Pakistan participated in the competition held in Karachi but he emerged as the winner. Tanvir added that he was among the two students who were selected for the IT competition from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP). He said he completed an IT course before working on the development of the mobile application. He thanked his parents and teachers who guided him throughout the project.

Explaining the features of the app, he said that an LED bulb could be turned on and off with a mobile phone and it could also be used to increase or decrease the voltage. Saqib said the real coding was done in Arduino through which signals are carried forward and operations are executed.

The winner said he did not find it difficult to develop the application as he already had a keen interest in coding. However, this was the first time he got the opportunity to showcase his skills. He expressed that he wanted to bring prestige to Pakistan on the international level, and vowed to make bigger projects than the current one.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2021.