The Indian team secured second position in the 29th International Biology Olympiad (IBO 2018) held in Tehran, Iran from July 15 to 21, 2018. About 271 of the brightest students from 71 countries participated in the event.
From India, the team comprised of four students- Stuti Khandwala from Surat, Vishwesh Bharadiya from Nasik, Kunjal Parnami from Bangalore, and Shaswat Jain from Yamunanagar.
All four of them secured Silver medals and the team was led by two leaders, Dr. Sasikumar Menon, TDM Lab, Mumbai and Prof. Kauresh Vacchrajani, M. S. University, Baroda and two scientific observers, Prof. Pradeep Burma, Delhi University and Mr. Vikrant Ghanekar, HBCSE, Mumbai.
There was a theoretical and experimental examination, each of 6-hour duration in the IBO competition. These exams are no different and are innovative and extremely challenging.
For all the Science Olympiads (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy and Astrophysics and Junior Science) and the Mathematical Olympiad- the nodal center in the country is Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE), a national center of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). This center is responsible for the selection and training of the teams representing India.
Over 34,000 students appeared in the first stage consisted of a nationwide examination in. This exam was conducted by the Indian Association of Physics Teachers (IAPT) in about 1,400 centers across the country. Apart from that, the remaining two stages consisted of a series of difficult selection tests, both theoretical and practical. A similarly tough selection procedure is adopted for the other olympiads as well.
Now, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) of the Government of India- support the Olympiad effort.