Home  -  Back Issues  -  The Team  Contact Us
                                                                                                                    
Linking Young Minds Together
 Volume 3 | Issue 11 | March 20, 2011 |


   Inside

   News Room
   Spotlight
   Making a Difference
   Competition
   News Snap
   Sports
   Event
   Athletics
   Going Green
   Youth in Action
   Trends
   Star Chat



   Star Campus Home


Competition

Brain Brats 2011: Champs in action

Rakibul Hasan

Just a day after the Tigers of Bangladesh cricket team outsmarted England in a fierce battle of wit, patience and ingenuity, another group of tiger-cubs roared in the Hall of Fame of Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka. On Saturday, March 12 2011, a group of highly talented students from the English medium schools from all over the city emerged as the champions at the grand finale of Brain Brats- a nation wide online quiz competition jointly organised by The Daily Star and Champs 21. Yeafesh Osman, Science and ICT Minister, Mahfuz Anam, Editor and Publisher of The Daily Star and Russell T Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer of Champs21 were present as special guests of the programme while Dr Tawfiq Elahi Chowdhury, Energy Advisor to the Prime Minister graced the occasion as the chief guest.

The 210 young participants beat thousands of contestants in three phases of quizzes on the subjects of science, math and general knowledge to reach the grand finale. After the final round of quizzes, a total of 21 students, categorised in classes 1 to 10, were selected as second runners-up, first runners-up and the Brain Brats champions. The winner school was declared as 'Champion School', while the respective parents of the winners were awarded as 'Champion Parent'. The second runners-up were awarded crests and digital cameras while the first runners-up received crests and laptops. The seven Brain Brats champions won crests and a study tour ticket from Dhaka to Kuala Lumpur with their mothers.


The Busy Bees: Brain Brats 2011

Class 3- Winner: Raguib Muhtasim Sakif (Summerfield International School)

1st Runner-up: Raiyan M Rashid (BAF Shaheen English Medium School)
2nd Runner-up: Dihan Mashroor Niloy (DPS STS School)

Class 4- Winner: Ahmed Lateef (Sunbeams School)
1st Runner-up: Shahriar Ahmed Khan (Oxford International School)
2nd Runner-up: Abdullah -Al- Sajid (South Breeze)

Class 5- Winner: Soumyajit Guha (South Breeze)
1st Runner-up: Shezan Mahmud (BAF Shaheen English Medium School)
2nd Runner-up: Hasiba Afrin (Summerfield International School)

Class 6- Winner: Mohaimenul Islam (Oxford International School)
1st Runner-up: Shatadhi Dutta (Marie Curie School)
2nd Runner-up: Amir Habib Zawad (Play Pen)

Class 7- Winner: Khondker Faraz Shafiq (Play Pen)
1st Runner-up: R Rahaman (Raza) (Methodist English Medium School)
2nd Runner-up: Altaful Amin (Bangladesh International Tutorial)

Class 8- Winner: Shakib Mahmud (Bangladesh International School)
1st Runner-up: Ahmed Ishtiaque (BAF Shaheen English Medium School)
2nd Runner-up: Rodsy Modhurima (DPS STS School)

Classes 9 & 10- Winner: Prodhi Manisha (Sunbeams School)
1st Runner-up: Padya Paramita (Sunbeams School)
2nd Runner-up: Intisar Hasnain (HURDCO International School)

“I could not believe my ears when my name was announced as the champion. I am overwhelmed with joy and I can't express my feelings in words right now,” says Prothi Manisha, the Brain Brat from class 9 and 10 combined and a student of Sunbeams School. “Every contestant at this Brain Brats competition has very good potentials to represent Bangladesh in a global context,” adds Manisha.

“The good thing about online quiz competitions like Brain Brats is that here, instead of going through games and social networking websites, children can enrich their knowledge in an easy and effective way while surfing the internet. It helps them to go beyond their fear of maths and sciences as most of the students love to solve quizzes,” says Fazana Khan, Principal of the BAF Shaheen English Medium School.

In his speech to the young participants, Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star encouraged the students to put emphasis on science and maths to face the challenges of 21st century. He asserted to come up with same kind of online quiz competitions for the students of Bangla medium schools as well. Rusell T ahmed, the CEO of Champs21 appreciated the indomitable enthusiasm of the huge number of participants in the contest. “The biggest achievement of this competition is that every student can stand out as a brand-ambassador of Bangladesh,” says Russell. He declared that the Brain Brats would continue as a yearly programme and he also thanked The Daily Star for its tremendous support to arrange every level of Brain Brats competition. Science and ICT Minister, Yeafesh Osman appealed to the youths to play the leading role to achieve a digital Bangladesh. “Education is light. It can enlighten, develop and brighten children's lives,” said Dr Tawfiq Elahi Chowdhury, energy advisor to the prime minister, while addressing the programme as the chief guest. He also advised the students not to hesitate to ask questions to get a clear idea on everything.

Soummojit Guha, a student of class 5 of South Breeze School was posing for photo-sessions while holding his crest in his hands. Soummojit has won the Brain Brats championship for class 5. “I am thankful to my parents and teachers for encouraging me to register for Brain Brats competition. The questions at the final session of the competition were a bit difficult but since my dad trained me well in math and science, I was confident on winning a title at the contest,” says Soummo with a proud smile in his face. Expressing her feelings on her son's success, Soummos mother Saumi Guha says, “The Knowledge-corner published in the Page 2 of The Daily Star helped the participants tremendously to do well in general knowledge. The publication should continue so that children can build a strong knowledge bank”. “I am very excited to visit Kuala Lumpur with my son” she adds.

“I did not win this time but next year I will make sure that I win”, says Wasiul a contestant at the Brain Brats competition. Like Wasiul, the Brain Brats quiz-competetion has inspired hundreds of youngsters across Bangladesh to take up any challenge to excel in the global competitions of 21st century.

Copyright (R) thedailystar.net 2010