The Ministry of Education and Higher Education will host the 16th edition of the International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO) 2019 from Tuesday until December 12.

Qatar is the first Arab country to host this Olympiad to be held under the theme ‘Towards a Generation Enjoying the Skills of Tomorrow’ with the participation of 70 countries from around the world.

"The event will be held at Qatar National Convention Centre,” Dr Ibrahim bin Saleh al-Naimi, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and chairman of the Olympiad Higher Committee for IJSO 2019, told a press conference on Sunday.

Fawzia Abdulaziz al-Khater, assistant undersecretary for Educational Affairs and vice-chairperson of the Olympiad Higher Committee, Dr Khaled al-Ali, acting assistant undersecretary for Higher Education and chairman of the Scientific Committee for the Olympiad, Ali Abdullah al-Buainain, acting assistant undersecretary for Shared Services Affairs and chairman of the Olympiad Organising Committee and Hassan Abdullah al-Mohammadi, director of Public Relations and Communication and chairman of the Olympiad Public Relations Committee were also present.

“About 700 participants including officials are expected to take part in IJSO 2019, which is a collaborative effort with various universities. It is also an opportunity for us to compare the scientific performance of our students in the field of science with their peers at the international level,” noted Dr al-Naimi.

Al-Khater said that the Olympiad is an opportunity to gain many skills for the students of Qatar. “As the host country Qatar is eligible to have four teams while other countries will have only one team each. Students who are below 15 are eligible to take part in the event. The experience from the event will benefit not only the students but also the educational leaders and teachers and will contribute to the realisation of Qatar's National Vision 2030,” pointed out al-Khater.

According to Dr al-Ali, the Scientific Committee has been actively involved in the preparation of the materials for the Olympiad for more than six months.

“The Olympiad will be held in four disciplines of biology, physics, chemistry and laboratory. We have made extensive arrangements to conduct the Olympiad in the digital format, a first in the history of the Olympiad. In case of any problems with the digital format, we have made plans for paper based tests too. Our preparation as Scientific Committee took more than six months of continuous work and periodic meetings. The International Inspection team is highly satisfied with the preparations for the event,” described Dr al-Ali.

Al-Buainain pointed out that all the logistic part for the event has been taken care of and the Olympiad is expected to be held very smoothly.

Thre opening ceremony of the event will be held on December 4 while On December 9 there will be a cultural programme at the Amphitheatre at Katara and the closing ceremony will be held on December 12.



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