KARACHI: “Four Pakistani students at the L.E.J. National Science Information Center, International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi participated in the major online exam of the 53rd International Chemistry Olympiads 2021 (IChO-2021) on July 28.
HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry, University of Karachi has played a significant role in terms of providing training to students, organizing and hosting the event at the LEJ center. The International Chemistry Olympiads has already been kicked-off on July 25 in Tokyo, Japan, while it will continue until August 2, and the written test was the IChO’s major event that was held on July 28.
Prof Dr. Khalid M. Khan, Coordinator to National Chemistry Talent Contest (NCTC), in a statement, said on Thursday that the ongoing global pandemic had restricted the international event to online events only. The online exam of the ICho-2021 was started in the morning and continued in the late evening, he said.
The names of the students who participated in the written exam included Muhammad Ismail from Kips College, Lahore, Ayesha Junaid from Bahria College Karsaz, Karachi, Muhammad Yahya from Tameer-I-Nau College, Quetta, and Rameesha Khursheed from Fauji Foundation College for Girls, Rawalpindi. It is pertinent to mention here that Prof Dr. Khalid M. Khan, Prof. Dr. M. Raza Shah, Deputy Coordinator to NCTC, and other officials were also present on the occasion. Prof. Khan said, “The International Chemistry Olympiads is one of the world’s biggest and most significant competitions in chemistry with the participation of more than eighty countries.”
Talking about the training of young chemists, he said that these students were trained at HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry under the STEM Careers Program of HEC. He said, “These four successful students were also selected from nearly 1000 students through contests and examinations held at the national level. Organizers selected around 50 students from a pool of 1000 contestants through a rigorous examination; later on the same process picked up 11 students. And after holding more examinations, finally, four students were selected for 53rd International Chemistry Olympiad.”
The results of the ongoing Olympiad will be announced on August 2, 2021, he said.
