BRAMPTON — A Sheridan College student’s long-time dream came true when he was rewarded for generating a contemporary app for tablets.

Anshul Goyal, a first year student in Sheridan’s Computer System Technician and Software Engineering Program, created an app called “My Rights”, designed to bridge the existing information gap between common people in India and the government with regards to available programs and benefits.

Goyal’s work was part of a global Apps-to-Empower contest held by Datawind — India’s leading provider of wireless web access products and services.

At a ceremony held at Sheridan’s Davis Campus in Brampton Tuesday afternoon, Datawind not only recognised Goyal’s app, but also rewarded him with a prize money of $2,500.

From now on, Goyal’s “My Rights” will be pre-loaded in all of Datawind’s Ubislate tablets.

“I see lots of app contests but this one really grabbed my attention because it was about women’s empowerment,” said Goyal. “I believe in humanity and in helping people, it is something my parents always taught me. Women in India sometimes only know what they hear at home or school. I wanted to create an app that would let them find out for themselves about all the opportunities available.”

Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO of Datawind, personally congratulated Goyal for winning the company’s global Apps-to-Empower contest and presented him a $2,500 cash prize and a number of Ubislate tablets.

In June 2013, Goyal earned Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) degree from India’s Bharati Vidyapeeth University (BVU). He is now studying at Computer System Technician and Software Engineering Program at Sheridan College.

Most recently, Datawind’s Aakash/UbiSlate tablets have received worldwide attention, as the company executes a vision to empower the next 3 billion people with computing and Internet access.

Goyal plans to send tablets to friends in India so they can help him further field test his app.