As many as 400 projects have been lined up for this high-profile talent show, which is being held under the aegis of Riyadh Gov. Prince Sattam. The submissions will be evaluated by a panel of over 165 judges to select the winners who will be representing Saudi Arabia in the international competition.
Addressing a press conference at the headquarters of King Abdul Aziz and his Companions for the Gifted (Mawhiba), the organization’s deputy secretary-general Mahmoud Naqqadi said the number of participants in this year’s show underlines the rising level of talented young Saudis. More than 48,000 across the Kingdom have registered online.
He said in the innovation category there are 14,680 boys and 6,607 girl students, while in the category of scientific research there are 19,064 boys and 7,652 girls who have submitted work. This is in addition to 5,122 projects submitted as group and individual entries.
The event was attended by undersecretary for boys at the Ministry of Education Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Barrak, and the General Supervisor for the Olympiad Ahmed Al-Balochi.
Naqqadi said the large number of participants in the upcoming Olympiad underlines the continued support and patronage extended by the Kingdom’s leadership to the community.
He added 232 exhibitions around the Kingdom featured the work of 50,000 creative and innovative youths.
According to Naqqadi, the number of entries this year is four times more than last year, with 5,243 schools, or 35 percent of the targeted schools in the Kingdom, participating in the event. He said 975 training workshops were held for 17,229 teachers, arbitrators, students and administrators.
Al-Barrak said the goal of the Olympiads is to develop a cadre of mentors in the Kingdom as part of the Ministry of Education’s objective to support gifted Saudi youth to help lay the foundation of a knowledge society in a creative and integrated manner.
He pointed out Mawhiba has been successful in its organization of the event going by the increasing number of participants in the Olympiad, the examples of scientific research and innovation they exhibited, and the high caliber of the judges.
He said in the categories for scientific research the criteria would be how well submissions stand up to the scientific scrutiny on the basis of experiments conducted to prove or disprove hypotheses submitted to the jury.
In the final analysis, the focus should be on product innovation, scientific theory, whether it is scientifically or mathematically sound and capable of being run as a computer program or device, and whether it qualifies as a work of creativity.
Al-Balochi said the objectives of the event include ensuring students focus on the fields of learning and knowledge, providing a competitive environment that satisfy the interest of an important segment of citizens who are gifted and talented, develop the spirit of creativity among students in the Kingdom in the fields of science and technology, discover scientific talent and a spirit of curiosity among the students through self-development and fair competition.
As many as 515 Saudi students were picked on Monday after months of elimination rounds during the run-up to the National Olympiad for Science Creativity.
The finalists will be competing for the final stage, submitting in hundreds of scientific projects of which 110 will be in the field of mechanical and electrical engineering, 64 in the field of social and behavioral sciences, 49 in medicine and health sciences, 26 in environmental science, and 23 in the field of energy and transport.
Among the other categories, 22 projects will be in the computer science category, 22 in physics and astronomy, 22 in chemistry, 15 in environmental management, and 13 in botanical sciences, seven in materials engineering and bioengineering, six in sports science, six in the field of biochemistry, five in cellular and molecular biology, five in microbiology, two in earth and planetary sciences, and two in zoology.
The final evaluation rounds started on Monday for projects that have reached the final stage of the play-offs, involving 164 designated arbitrators and referees. The selected winners among participants will represent the Saudi Arabia on an international level, including the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, which will be held in the United States in May.
Prince Faisal bin Abdullah, minister of education and vice president of Mawhiba and the foundation’s Secretary General Dr. Khaled Sabti were the guests of honor at the event.
