BENGALURU: There have been many calls to youngsters to save Nature and be part of a more sustainable tomorrow. Two higher primary school students of the city — 13 year-old Priyal Jain and 12-year-old Prateek Mahesh — have taken baby steps.
Last Saturday, they launched an app vPledge that starts you on a game of challenge. Users can set realistic social goals — feed 10 stray dogs or take public transport for a month — and win points for achieving them. These points can then be shared on social networking sites and the user can challenge his/her friend to score higher. Whether the pledge is kept will be tracked by friends.
Priyal, a Class 8 student of Delhi Public School, and Prateek, a Class 7 student of New Horizon Public School, came up with the idea at a summer camp. They had joined AcadGild and signed up for their two-month-long “Android for Kids” course. This app was inspired by the Ice Bucket challenge initiated by Facebook in 2014, in support of people living with ALS.
There are plans to tie up with NGOs, who can guide them, and also reward users who meet the target points with T-Shirts that read “I am a vPledger”.
The idea for the app was first mooted by Priyal, who read an article about a boy who missed his board exams caught in a bad traffic jam. This made her wonder about the solution to this and it led her into thinking if she can do something for a “better tomorrow.”
Prateek, also a student at the summer camp, has an interest in technology. “Me and Priyal are good friends,” says Prateek.
“When she came up with this idea, I too wanted to be part of it and help her. I love technology, science and programming and the idea of inventing an app to resolve problems in society appealed to me.”
He helped to brainstorm and develop the app.
The app has seen a reasonable response, downloaded by 200 people in two days.