A city school boy has become one of the 35 students, shortlisted from a nation-wide pool of 37,837 students, selected for the final round of contest that could provide them an opportunity to take part in the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO).
M. Veeramakali Vignesh, a Class X student in Suguna PIP School here, has been selected to the Orientation-Cum-Selection Camp conducted by the Asian Physics Olympiad Cell.
The students were selected through contests conducted by the Board of Nuclear Sciences, which comes under the Department of Atomic Energy, the Departments of Science and Technology and Space besides the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development.
The IPhO is a keenly contested examination in physics open to pre-university students of all countries in the world. It serves as a bench-mark for study of physics at pre-university level.
Only five students can represent the country at the 46th IPhO, which will be held in Mumbai from July 5 to July 12.
According to A. Manivannnan, the boy's father and executive director of C.V. Raman School for IIT-JEE, the boy is the among first student from Class X to be selected for this event, which usually features students of Classes XI and XII.
Vignesh says his father and Prof. Syed Sadat of Hyderabad began tutoring him at an young age in physics
Expressing confidence of being one among the five students, who would be chosen to represent India in this international science event, he says his ambition is to make it to the Indian Institutes of Technology.
Asian Olympiad
Further, Vignesh has become one of the eight participants to represent India in the Asian Physics Olympiad (APhO), an annual international physics competition for secondary school students.
Last year, 27 countries from Asia participated in the event.
This year, the 16th Asian Physics Olympiad (APhO) will be held at Zhejiang University in China from May 3 to May 11. Eight participants from each country are selected to take part in the event.
Science Olympiad
Similarly, R. Sidharth, a Class XII student of Suguna PIP School, had cleared National Standard Examination in Biology and was among the 300 students shortlisted to the second stage. After this, he is now among the top 35 students who have become eligible to take part in OCSC. He is vying for a slot to represent the country in the International Biology Olympiad.
T.V. Uma, a Class X Student, also from the same School, has become eligible for taking part in the prestigious International Mathematical Olympiad Training Camp en route to representing our nation abroad in the European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad.
Students of the same schools have also qualified for the “Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana” (KVPY) scholarship, provided by the Central Government’s Department of Science and Technology, which is conducted by the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.
Five students of Suguna PIPS have won this fellowship. Srihari and Alfred Festus Davidson of Class XII, Sidharth and Sakthi Surya of XII secured the 108th and 543rd ranks respectively; Rohith in Class XI got the 243rd rank.
Besides getting monthly fellowships and annual grants for their higher studies, they are also eligible to participate in IISC science camps.