Quiz based educational service on TV, first time in India

Television is watched by kids continuously through out the day when they are left alone at home or when they are restricted to play out door with friends or on their leisure time. Many of the parents are worried about this issue as they think TV is the source where child learns beyond his age, for instance he watches movies, reality shows or serials which includes criminal and adult programs. Children generally learn the things which they observe and try to do it practically resulting increase in child crime.

Children watch shows which are not suitable & unnecessary for their age, they loose their innocence and act more mature which is very harmful for their personality and social development.

TV is the reason students getting low grades as it takes time away from reading and homework. Generally parents allow kids to watch TV in holidays and try to stop them watching in school days, which is really a big headache as TV is very addictive and kids continue to watch TV on school days which effect on their Academic performance.

Taking this as point TataSky which has over 1 million of subscribers has partnered with 24x7guru.com which is an online assessment tool provider for school children to introduce interactive self-assessment tool for the children of age group 7-11 yrs. Its Quiz based educational service which covers GK, Maths and Science. This quiz can be easily taken as it can be accessed with the help of remote, after the quiz individual score cards and correct answers are also given to them by which they can learn the correct answers for the questions which they were wrong.


Television is a powerful medium for children to learn apart from the entertainment. Through TataSky’s tool every day child can learn around 50 different questions which will help them to enhance their knowledge, it can be GK or academic subjects like Mathematics & science. Indians are tending more towards Online facilities like banking, business developing and now lately on online Education. That’s the reason for programs like TataSky and 24x7guru have been coming up.

Candid thoughts from a Science teacher

I grew up from a little child being totally awed by the Television and its transmission. Little did I know in the years to come there would be an equally or even stronger media of learning via the Internet. Learning never ceased in me, even with the years of experience I have in the field of education. I had often sought inspiration in Science and keenly follow latest technological developments.

Being a teacher one has to an independent mind and bring in newer ideas that will keep students thinking. A teacher’s job (I can speak for science teachers) should be to teach students fundamentals through concept learning thereby laying a strong foundation for the student. This can be realistically done when children are able to relate to what they learn.

For example when I was teaching my students on rocket propellants I had to talk to them about the world of space voyages and NASA. Expectedly I had many enthusiastic students and it was one of my most interesting classes, with a record student participation in the discussion. However I should say we hardly covered much syllabus that day and I happened to be quizzed by our proactive Principal on the day’s lessons. He was not impressed when I told him about the long conversations we had and the student participation. Being the principal behind many successful students and national ranks, he had his own agenda for success and wasn’t in a mood to give in to newer ideas. I had also forecasted on how such discussions would inspire children and take them deeper into Science and there were several long-term benefits associated with it. Quite obviously his defense was that a huge chunk of children already loved Science, referring to the many engineering courses and colleges we had in the country.

Now I didn’t feel the need to convince him more and therefore in class keep my conversations limited to the syllabus and once in a while answer a few inquisitive non-subjective queries from students. Students do come up with topics with the potential of deviating from the syllabus but I promptly tell them to keep those discussions for the break or ones to discuss at home. I feel sad for them as now I don’t discuss but only talk to them about good Science programmes on television and other internet sites which they would find useful.

For example, the other day I came across this article from Times of India that spoke about a ‘Destination NASA Challenge 2008’. It’s conducted by an online self-assessment website called www.24x7guru.com where a series of tests are conducted across the country. The challenge is for students from classes 3 to 10 (based on their existing CBSE or ICSE boards) and 10 lucky students get to visit NASA along with a teacher and parent. This challenge has sure caught up with me and my students. There days we quietly discuss in breaks and post-classes on the preparations for the challenge.

I should say such initiatives are motivation for all - parents, teachers and students most importantly to perform. Honestly speaking nothing else will give our Principal, Management or me more joy that having our students to visit NASA.

Online assessment tests for school children

Online assessment service that students between classes 3 and 10 can subscribe, to assess their strengths and weaknesses in Mathematics and Science.




Test to be the Best using 24x7guru.com and Destination NASA is yours.

Taare Zameen Par - Every child is special

Taare Zameer Par is a story of an eight year-old who lives in a creative world filled with wonders. His interests include colors, kites, fishes, dogs, etc. things that most aren't able to appreciate in him. It's a journey where Ishaan (the eight year old) doesn't get anything in class, sent to a boarding school to get disciplined and there he meets his teacher Ram Shankar, the guru who transforms lives.

24x7guru.com and its Destination NASA Challenge 2008 is similarly going to transform especially by bringing learning Maths and Science into vogue among Children.

24x7guru and Radio Mirchi, Supported by Aamir's "Taare Zameen Par" are all set to inspire the next Generation of explorers through Destination NASA.

As a parent, here are my views

I thought of sharing this interesting story of how I noticed a dramatic change in my son’s attitude towards academics, especially the maths and science subjcects. My son Mohit is so fascinated by aeroplanes, that he says that he wants to fly planes when he grows up. But at the same time I had no clue on how he would be able to pursue his dream, as his performance in Maths and Science subjects were very poor. All my efforts to get the concepts into his head were in vain. He was interested in studies and spent most of his time on his favorite video game.
I heard of this website 24x7guru.com from one of my friends and thought of giving a try. I subscribed to the package. I never knew that Mohit would be interested. But now I see that he spends more time on 24x7guru and within six weeks he has got all the concepts clear. Instead of playing his favorite game on the pc he is now addicted to assessing how he had bettered his performed on these subjects daily. Now I have enrolled him for the NASA Knowledge Challenge 2008 conducted by 24x7guru.com. I am eager to see him in the top 135 who would be visiting NASA.
Mathew