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First ever natT physics olympiad held

20 students awarded medals

Staff Correspondent
The country's first-ever national physics olympiad was held at Oxford International School (OIS) in the city's Dhanmondi yesterday to achieve greater success in the future in the field of science globally.
Over 300 students from around 40 schools, colleges and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), divided into high school and college groups, participated in the "Oxford-The Daily Star National Physics Olympiad-2011" jointly organised by OIS and The Daily Star.
After taking part in examinations, quiz contests and project presentations, 10 students won gold medals while six silver medals and four bronze medals at a ceremony held later at OIS auditorium, jam-packed with students, teachers and guardians.
The gold medallists are Nadia Imtiaz of Dhanmondi Tutorial; Sinjini Saha and
Shamsur Rahman of Cephalon International School; Debopriyo Biswas of Sunnydale School; Ebroz Khan, Ishak Zia, Farshad Al Hossain and Mukhlasur Rahman of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet); Yameen Muttaqui; and Abanti Basak of European Standard School.
All awardees also received a crest and a certificate each.
Prof Arshad Momen will specially tutor the 10 gold medalists of college group and the top five would take part in the 42nd International Physics Olympiad to be held in Thailand this July. This is the first time Bangladesh will participate in the event, which began in Warsaw of Poland in 1967.
Speakers said the practice of physics is limited in the country and the olympiad would help bring out the students' hidden talents in physics.
They said physics enlightened many branches of knowledge and stressed the
need for exploring what lies in physics.
Prof Muhammad Zafar Iqbal of Computer Science and Engineering department of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology said students who study physics will never face any tough time in their lives.
"There is a huge scarcity of physicist across the world as very few students are studying physics.
“If you (students) properly study and love physics, you would have the opportunity to study in the world's best universities and your lives would be beautifully built up," he said.
Mentioning that families and schools do not get much time to explore students' creativity, Ajoy Kumar Roy of University Grants Commission said, "If we could arrange these types of programmes and fairs, our students' potentials would flourish."
The Daily Star Editor and Publisher Mahfuz Anam said physics is not just a
subject but also a mental attitude.
"You (students) have to understand what physics actually represents and what its value is," he said, adding that the value is to ask questions all the time.
Asking questions would lead to a mentality where students would critically think over all aspects of an issue instead of readily accepting it, he said.
"We want this type of mentality so that we can overcome backlogs in our society and in our education," he said, vowing that The Daily Star would always be a partner in the field of science.
"We want a Bangladesh of scientists, of creative thinkers and of people who will see the future," he added.
Bangladesh Academy of Sciences President Prof Dr Shamsher Ali said physics is the core discipline of the world, training people to ask the right question at the right time.
"Physics lies everywhere and if you study physics, you will understand everything in the world, "he said.
For students who will be taking part in the International Physics Olympiad, he said, "If you do not perform well in Bangkok, do not get upset. You would learn a lot and get the exposure.
"You can achieve many things if you have the confidence to do better than what any other students of the world can do. We have the tradition of doing better."
Speaking as the chief guest, State Minister for Science and Information & Communication Technology Yeafesh Osman said it is not possible to move forward without practicing knowledge.
The country's people used technology to change many things in the past two years, he said, adding, "The time to look back on science has ended. We have to look forward and I firmly believe that the young generation can take Bangladesh to a different height."
OIS Principal GM Nizam Uddin hoped that the national olympiad would be held countrywide next year.
Prof Dr Ali Asgar, president of Bangladesh Physical Society, and Dr M Kaykobad of Buet also spoke.