Sri Lankan students win at International Olympiad 2012
Sri Lankan students won Silver, Bronze and Merit Awards at the
International Biology Olympiad 2012 concluded last week in Singapore.
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The winning students at the International Olympiad 2012 |
Pramith Ruwanpathirana of Royal College, Colombo won a Silver Medal,
Prasan Thurul Warnakula of Joseph Vaz College, Wennappuwa won a Bronze
Medal and Janidu Gunarathna of Royal College, Colombo and Madhushani
Rodrigo of Vishaka Vidyalaya, Colombo won Merit awards.
Over 230 pre-university Biology students and 205 Jury members from 59
countries participataed in this competition. Silver medalist Pramith
Ruwanpathirana obtained the best results in the Bio Science stream based
on the 2011 GCE (A/L) Examination results. Bronze medalist Prasan Thurul
Warnakula is just preparing for the GCE (A/L) Examination next month.
Other students intend to follow medical degree courses in Sri Lanka.
These students were selected out of 2300 students who participated in
the Sri Lanka Biology Olympiad competition conducted by the Institute of
Biology in collaboration with Sri Lankan Universities and the Education
Ministry in September last year. Prof. Hiran Amarasekera and Prof H.G.
Nandadasa from the Sri Jayawardenepura University and Prof M.J.S.
Wijeratne from the Kelaniya University also participated at the
International Biology Olympiad as Jury Members.
Some of the characteristics of the Science Olympiad as compared with
those for sports are that these are held annually and intended for
secondary schools students. The level of questions is above the standard
for secondary school education in the world.
The theoretical/practical question papers are of five hours duration,
each demanding persistence and determination, as well as discipline.
Gold medals are awarded not only to the top achievers but to the top 10%
of participants. The Olympiad also offers an opportunity for
international exchange.
The Internatioal Biology Olympiad is an internationally conducted
prestigious competition, in which bright students from contries all over
the world compete for medals. The first intermational Olympiad was held
in Eastern Europe in 1959 in Mathematics. The remaining disciplines
quickly followed. Physics (1967), Chemistry (1968) and Informatics in
1989. Biology had its first Olympiad in 1990. |
