A resident studying in the US has opened a world of opportunity for students to make good use of their spare time.

Those aged 12 to 24 years can now think of participating in the Nasa Space Settlement Contest. Or the United Nations Political Cartoon Awards. Never heard of them? No need to scratch your heads. Sharad Vivek Sagar (22) is doing all to take these events to your home. He will help students keep track of these events and also tell them how to go about them.

“Students can access information about globally famous events like Nasa Space Settlement Contest, United Nations Political Cartoon Awards, Microsoft Student India Partner Programme, Carmel Art Contest, Manchester Fiction Prize and many more on my the website www.facebook.com/dexterityglobal and www.dexglobe.org. I am also going to start an offline initiative by reaching out to students in their schools,” Sharad said.

He said: “I found through my online initiative, launched last year, that I was not able to reach most students because very few use the internet.”

His team will provide details of contests to schools to be put on bulletin boards. “If students have any queries they can send us a mail,” he said.

He has tied up with just one school — Soshit Samadhan Kendra — run for underprivileged children. “But I would soon tie up with other schools as well,” he said. He has written to the education department and to chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi to be able to provide his services to all 75,000 government schools in the state. It would be free of cost.

Joining in these contests would do wonders to the curriculum vitae of students, Sharad said.

Students and teachers are happy with Sharad’s initiative. “It would be good for students if they gain such kind of experience. This is a very good initiative. I will tell my students about this during assembly tomorrow morning. Whenever Sharad approaches us, we will give him all possible help, ” said Alfred de Rozario, director, Don Bosco Academy.

Aman Tejaswi, a Class XII student of DAV, BSEB, however, said: “I don’t think students who are preparing for IIT or MBBS would benefit from such events because preparation for IIT and MBBS is a different thing altogether.”