World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand flags off NIIT MindChampions
Academy 2008-09 Series, nationally
Anand addresses students live across 12 cities, and unveils the MCA
trophy
Simultaneous release in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar,
Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Pune,
Vishakhapatnam on May 09, 2008:
Signifying the nationwide launch of ‘NIIT MindChampions Academy (MCA)
2008-09 Series’, World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand today flagged off the
popular Chess initiative, by unveiling the horse head shaped ‘Chess Master’
mascot, while engaging in a technology driven workshop with school students and
media, across 12 Indian cities.
Nearly 300 school children participated in the live tutorial by Anand, and
witnessed the MCA launch ceremony across—Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar,
Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Pune and
Vishakhapatnam—facilitated by NIIT Imperia’s synchronous learning technology.
Addressing the students, NIIT MindChampion Viswanathan Anand said,
“Chess is a unique sport that helps build Mind Champions. It touches
young people in many ways, enabling them to improve their concentration, and
help them accelerate their success in academics. NIIT MindChampions Academy is
our initiative to provide a platform to young minds to get initiated into the
Game of Chess.”
World Chess Champion, Anand, gave playing tips to young Chess enthusiasts
and responded to their queries, using NIIT Imperia’s national network which is
being used by premier business schools such as the IIMs (Ahmedabad, Indore,
Kolkata) and others, to offer their executive management education programs to
working professionals across the country.
Earlier welcoming Anand, and the children, Mr P Rajendran, Chief Operating
Officer, NIIT said, “NIIT has been developing talent globally, by
equipping the youth with skills necessary for the knowledge economy. The NIIT
Mind Champions Academy aims at exposing young minds to the Game of Chess to
enable their all-round growth and better performance”.
In its sixth year, The NIIT MindChampions Academy will mentor students on
Chess and organize inter-school, district, state, zonal and national level Chess
events. In the past years, the zonal and national winners have been felicitated
by the World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand, who also mentors and motivates
the young, promising talents of the Game.
The MCA 2008-09 series will be taken to over 4000 government and private
schools, across the country, where NIIT offers its computer aided learning
solutions.
About NIIT MindChampions Academy
Started in 2002-03, NIIT MindChampions Academy is joint initiative of World
Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand and NIIT, to initiate young minds into the
World of Chess. The Academy has already fostered 6180 clubs with over 1,75,000
students as its members across the network of schools where NIIT offers
computer-aided learning. The young members of the Academy get to play Chess in
both online and offline format and are given coaching using NIIT’s technology.
The students use computer-based tutorials, during and after school as a
virtual playfield to hone their skills in the game of Chess. Apart from
tutorials, promising Chess players get an opportunity to interact with NIIT
MindChampion Viswanathan Anand, in person.
Leveraging its inherent strength in technology, NIIT MindChampions Academy
has created a virtual community of Chess enthusiasts in the country. The Academy
has Viswanathan Anand, Rajendra S. Pawar and L. Balasubramanian, President of
NIIT’s School Learning Solutions Business, on its Advisory Board.
NIIT through its School Learning Solutions division is reaching 2 million
kids in government and private schools, mostly in rural areas, equipping them
with crucial IT skills to prepare them for tomorrow’s knowledge society. NIIT is
working actively to make computers an intrinsic part of the lives of children
and also those of the socially and economically challenged sections of the
society, who may never have had a chance to integrate with the emerging 21st
century environment, to give a better prospect to their future.
About NIIT
NIIT, Asia’s No. 1 trainer and leading Global Talent Development
Corporation, offers learning and knowledge solutions to 5 million students
across 32 countries.
Leading IT magazine Dataquest has conferred upon NIIT, the Top IT Training
Company Award 2006. Rated among India’s Superbrands (2003-05), NIIT’s Individual
Learning Business offerings include: Industry-endorsed programs for students
seeking careers in IT: GNIIT, Integrated ANIIT for Engineers (IAE) and Advanced
Technology Programs for IT professionals.
For working professionals, NIIT Imperia, Centre for Advanced
Learning, offers Executive Management Education Programmes in
association with Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) at Ahmedabad, Indore and
Kolkata.
NIIT Institute of Finance Banking & Insurance (IFBI),
formed with equity participation from ICICI Bank, offers programs to develop
talent for the banking industry.
NIIT offers turnkey IT integration program for schools. NIIT has provided
computer-based learning to over 5000 government and private
schools.
NIIT’s Corporate Learning Solutions, offers integrated
learning solutions (including strategic consulting, learning design, content
development, delivery, technology, assessment and learning management) to
Fortune 500 companies, Universities, Technology companies, Training corporations
and Publishing houses.
Element K delivers learning solutions for customers and
partners through a tailored combination of catalog learning products,
technology, and services. The offerings include: vLab®:
hands-on labs, instructor-led courseware, comprehensive e-reference libraries,
technical journals, and KnowledgeHub™: hosted learning
management platform.
NIIT together with Element K is now the first and the best choice
for comprehensive learning solutions, worldwide.
For media queries, please contact:
Prateek Chatterjee, NIIT Limited, Ph: +91 9910201085, +91 124 4293041;
Shivanjali Singh, NIIT Limited, Ph: +91 9811991107; +91 124 4293044;