Students Of Indian Institute Of Technology, Madras Design Digital COVID-19 Awareness Game

Chennai: Students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) have developed a multi-lingual free of cost digital game to create pubic awareness on COVID-19, the premier institute said on Monday. “IITM Covid Game” takes inspiration from the popular ‘Super Mario’ game and is available in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu, besides English, it said.

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Students have developed the browser-based digital game to create awareness among the general public, particularly children, on the importance of following precautions announced by the government to safeguard themselves against coronavirus.

The game takes inspiration from the famous Super Mario game and consists of a character who encounters various right things-like masks, washing hands and also encounters things to be avoided like hugs, handshakes. As the character does the right things, points keep getting added. If the character fails to avoid a wrong thing, points get deducted to highlight the consequence. The game goes on for one minute and the players should aim for maximum points, a release from IIT-M said.

The game was created by students who took a nine-credit elective course called “Let’s Play To Learn” offered during the January-May 2020 Semester, in which they were taught game-based learning tools and techniques, it added.

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The game can be played on personal computers, laptops, tablets and mobile phones. It is available free of cost and can be played from the home page of www.letsplaytolearn.com, it said, adding, the game was also available on the website of IIT Madras underhttps://dost.iitm.ac.in/iitmdost/pages/game-corner.

Prof. Preeti Aghalayam, Department of Chemical Engineering, IITM, a co-facilitator for the elective course, said,

The IITM Covid game is a small but very meaningful and engaging contribution. And it clearly exhibits how thoughtful and aware our students are.

Kartic Vaidyanathan, Founder, Lets PlayTo Learn and a co-facilitator, said the students applied the concepts and created a number of game design prototypes that are relevant in general for science and engineering courses and can be used in IIT Madras courses.

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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol Banega Swasth India campaign is an extension of the five-year-old Banega Swachh India initiative helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. It aims to spread awareness about critical health issues facing the country. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign highlights the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children to prevent maternal and child mortality, fight malnutrition, stunting, wasting, anaemia and disease prevention through vaccines. Importance of programmes like Public Distribution System (PDS), Mid-day Meal Scheme, POSHAN Abhiyan and the role of Aganwadis and ASHA workers are also covered. Only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and become a Swasth or healthy India. The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene.