Tallent hunt finished

School students being quizzed at the ‘District Science Olympiad’ held at the Sri Shakthi Institute of Engineering and Technology in Coimbatore on Sunday.The “District Science Olympiad,” organised at the Sri Shakti Institute of Engineering and Technology here on Sunday, identified 30 school whiz kids who will be trained for two months to take the Regional Maths Olympiad organised by the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE).The Mathematics Olympiad Programme in India, which leads to the participation of Indian students in the International Mathematical Olympiad, is organised to spot mathematical talent among pre-university students in the country.

The Mathematics Olympiad programme is initially conducted at the regional and national levels.Before the regionals, a district-level Olympiad is held. For the first time, the District Science Olympiad in this region was held in Coimbatore.For a first attempt it was a good response. There were 312 students (standards IX to XII) from 41 schools. They took part in the written test that included questions from physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology and computer science in multiple choices. Twenty-four were selected to form eight teams of three each to take part in the quiz which had four rounds.Starlet Vimala, Assistant Professor in Chemistry, one of the organisers, said: “This does not need any separate preparation. The topics are from the school syllabus. Those who participated have performed well in the written test. The questions were not simple. They have made a good attempt.”

The first round was on general science, while the second was on mathematics. Students were given a crossword puzzle and a maze from which they had to identify words. The second was on mathematics. That the students found the questions difficult would be an understatement.The third and fourth were on physics and chemistry. These rounds involved questions on practical situations. “What should the size of a mirror be and how should it be placed to view one self completely?,” “What is the process involved in removing the rust from the hull of a ship?” – these were a few samples.The posers that were aimed at the audience were also interesting. The lucky ones walked away with prizes sponsored by The Hindu.

The teams were more or less equally placed in the first two rounds. The teams from Sri Gopal Naidu Higher Secondary School, Coimbatore, and San Jose Higher Secondary School, Mettupalayam were pushing towards the first and second places respectively at the end of the third round when Kendriya Vidyalaya, Coimbatore, scored a straight 10 in the last round to grab the second place, pushing San Jose to the third.B. Ramprakash, S. Koushik and B. Ganga Barani, all standard XI students of Sri Gopal Naidu HSS, were a thrilled lot because they never expected to win. “We only read our test books. There was no special preparation of any kind. If we had prepared better we could have performed better,” they said. Cash prizes were given to the winners.S. Thangavelu, Chairman of the institute said: “We should have more people getting Nobel Prize for sciences. Such Olympiads will sow the seeds for greater achievements.”The institute plans to organise the district Olympiads on an annual basis by involving more schools and also combining more regions.

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