Olympiads- Celebration of Science

The sole purpose of education is to unlock the creativity in each mind. To make them think independent and not just pretend it. By think, I mean one’s own prospective to solve a problem, to analyze it, to solve it and most important to enjoy it.

For this we as an education system has to make our self’s free from our traditional thinking. We have to make them feel that education is not bounded to just the physical structures of schools and colleges, but much beyond that.

One of the steps towards it is making education fear free. In order to save kids from fear we have come up with new policies like grading them and taking away the feel of the competition from them. Absolutely, this is necessary, but the point is why this kids do not feel dishearten when they lose in video game, or cricket match or in any other sports.

The point I am making is, they are already equipped with capabilities of handling loss and win or success or failure. Why such a maturity can’t be transformed into them for their education. Why exam is such a painful experience for them rather than an joyous event. One good example of such educational competitiveness is International science Olympiads.

The International Science Olympiads are a group of worldwide annual competitions in various areas of science. I would like to call it as celebration of science. Where teenagers from senior secondary school, participate in exams and the top four from the nation participate at international level. To date there are 12 such ISOs:

• The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO, since 1959; not held in 1980)
• The International Physics Olympiad (IPhO, since 1967; not held in 1973, 1978, 1980)
• The International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO, since 1968; not held in 1971)
• The International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI, since 1989)
• The International Biology Olympiad (IBO, since 1990)
• The International Philosophy Olympiad (IPO, since 1993)
• The International Astronomy Olympiad (IAO, since 1996)
• The International Geography Olympiad (IGeO, since 1996)
• The International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL, since 2003)
• The International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO, since 2004)
• The International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA, since 2007)
• The International Earth Science Olympiad (IESO, since 2007)

The important thing about these exams is that most of the questions asked are not based on memory but rather on content which has to be analyzed and answered. It could be solved by various methods. The finals at National level also includes a practical component and I have been a part of making few of these experiments and believe me it made me feel why I can’t be student again? The winners meet the great personalities and intelligent students from all over the world at ISO. They do not only just share knowledge of science but also of their culture, making it a more valuable experience.

India has done well in past, not only n subjects like physics, chemistry, biology and math that are offered in schools but even in astronomy, which is not official subject in most curriculums in India. The whole event is organized by participation of various agencies and funded by government of India. Homi bhabha center for science education – Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (HBCSE-TIFR) is an institute which performs the major role in conducting and execution of this event.

There are many private organizations who have tried to use the name of Olympiads and make money out of it. But the ISO stands amongst all of them just because of it content and motive. I have often heard the rare expressions form students- “We enjoyed the Question’s and problems”.