Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown situation, several schools initiated online classes., Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG) undertook an online quiz competition to inculcate interest and enhance knowledge on electricity governance, energy efficiency, energy conservation and renewable energy. Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG) also created videos on how the electricity bill is calculated during lockdown period in Tamil Nadu (English and Tamil) and how it used to be calculated before the pandemic (English and Tamil).
The online quiz competitions were held from the month of June to September 2020. They were conducted for school students of grades 6 to 12in Tiruvallur, Cuddalore, Tirunelveli, Salem, Tiruvannamalai, Tiruchirappalli, and Vellore. The competition was organised by the Electricity Consumer Cells (ECCs), an initiative of CAG.
The quiz was divided into a) Electricity governance: considering the increasing necessity of electricity in our day-to-day life, it is important to understand how the electricity sector works in the state. b) Energy efficiency: avoiding unnecessary consumption, and efficient usage of electricity are also important aspects to be considered. c) Renewable energy: an important aspect of sustainable living and the future scope of electricity.
Totally around 5,300 students participated in the quiz and the below chart gives the number of participants from each of the 7 ECC districts.
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Image 1 - No. of students participated in the online quiz competition
A certificate of participation was issued to all the students on their successful participation. A sample certificate of participation is attached below:
Image 2 - Sample certification of participation
From the responses given by the participants, it was found that more than 50% of the questions from each topic were answered correctly (image 3).
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Image 3 - Overview of marks scored in each topic
This reflects that the students have some awareness on the above mentioned topics. While this is encouraging, persistent efforts to increase the awareness levels is necessary. CAG will continue its work to this effect and will add value to the cause through its research and related initiatives.