New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) felicitated the winners of 'IGNOU-UNESCO SCIENCE OLYMPIAD, 2010' during an award function held at the University's Convention Centre on November 14.
 
Forty-one students from India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka received medals, cash prizes and merit certificates for their outstanding performance in the Olympiad. They also received laptops from Intel.

Five toppers received Awards of Excellence for their overall performance. They are: Md. H. Rahman, Hyderabad (1st rank), Chelvaniththilan Sivabalan, Jaffna (2nd rank), Jeevana Priya, Hyderabad (3rd rank), Govind K, Tiruvanantahpuram (4th rank), and Ayush Singhal, Jaipur (5th rank).
 
Apart from this, four students received the A.V. Rama Rao Subject Excellence Awards in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology.

A total of 4,384 students of the 11th grade participated in the Olympiad in August, of which 41 were selected for their outstanding performance. Twenty-nine prize winners were from India and 12 were from other SAARC nations.

"This is a first of a kind Olympiad that was held in the University and the response has been overwhelming. We have been actively supported by UNESCO in our effort to nurture young talent and we will make this an annual event," VC Prof V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai said.

UNESCO General Conference president Davidson L. Hepburn added, "This Olympiad is an added milestone to popularise science in South Asia. There is a need to demystify science and technology so that everybody can access it."

The winners were happy that their hard work paid off. While some of them came with their parents, others were accompanied by their teachers.

"It was a great experience, with so many students from different countries getting together. The test was difficult but I enjoyed doing it a lot as it challenged and raised my standard of intelligence," Minhazul Islam from Bangladesh said.

The function coincides with India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's 121st birthday, 25th anniversary of IGNOU and 65th anniversary of UNESCO.

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