Nashik, June 23 (ANI/Business Wire India): The environment, which is currently occupying the world agenda, is the focus of all attention these days. With a view to enhance the awareness of the schools and students of the world, Dr. Jawahar Surisetti, director of Ashoka Education Foundation, in association with the American Center (the cultural wing of the US Consulate) have come together to devise an Olympiad which will reach the schools and students from classes 1 to 12.

The International Environment Olympiad is a tool to make the children and schools more conscious about the environment. The Olympiad tests the awareness of the children about the environment and rewards them with the title of Earth Genius. The International Environment Olympiad is designed to involve the student, nudge their thought processes and force them to think about the world that they are going to inherit. Reliance Webworld is the Communications Partner for this event. The American Center provides expertise and resources to facilitate conduction of the Olympiad.

Dr. Jawahar Surisetti had conducted the Earth Genius Contest last year at Ashoka Education Foundation in association with the American Center and it turned out to be a superb affair. Motivated by this effort, it was decided and announced by the chairman of Ashoka Group that we would go global next time. Hence the International Environment Olympiad.

Dr. Jawahar Surisetti is a renowned educationist and psychologist whose book “Mama and Me” is an international bestselling parenting guide in the US and Europe. He has conducted more than 1020 seminars and events like Explora – an expedition through the minds of the youth in 60 cities in India, Raahat – the exam stress helpline, Bacche Man ke Sacche – understanding children better, Teen Talk and many more throughout the world.

The Olympiad is held for 3 levels, the primary level for classes

1 to 4, the middle level for classes 5 to 8 and the secondary level for classes 9 to 12. The first round kicks of on the world ozone day, ie. 16th September 2009. The first round has been made easily accessible for the students as it is being held between 16th September to 15th October. The students or the schools could coordinate with the nearest Reliance Webworld and fix the time convenient for students and available at the webworld for taking the exam within the stipulated period of one month.

Students can log on to www.environmentolympiad.com with a onetime use password to access the test and will be operational for registration and information from 1st July, 2009. The first round is an online round which lasts for 60 minutes and the students will have to access the test online and finish it in one hour. The result will be flashed immediately after the test. The second round will be in December which comprises of the EXPRESSIONS round. The top 3 students from each level will present an expression which could be a working model, presentation, painting, poetry, dance, song or any other manner pertaining to environment.

Each participant receives a participation certificate and the top 100 rankers get prizes which include laptops, PCs, digicams, wrist watches, pen drives and books. The environment Olympiad will reach out to more than 5000 schools across the country and also in the US, Nepal, Bangladesh and Singapore.

Ashoka Education Foundation spends nearly 50 lakhs on this event to fulfill the pledge of creating environmental awareness in generation next. Ashoka Education Foundation conducts seminars, earth genius contests, anti smoking rallies, essay competitions and many more events throughout the year to reiterate this pledge. Ashoka Buildcon Limited, the flagship company of the Ashoka Group, and one of the leading names in the infrastructure industry has also planted more than a lakh of trees along the roads that it builds. (ANI)