International Schools Educational Olympiad: Second day of contest continues in full swing

Teams recited poems and prose passages by famous writers on second day of competition.

KARACHI: As the International Schools Educational Olympiad (ISEO) competitions continue in full swing, excitement coupled with an ever-growing sense of urgency mounts for participating students.

Every day, students representing different schools from all across Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Hyderabad, Rahim Yar Khan, Islamabad and Quetta match wits as they struggle for top positions in a series of exciting competitions that both challenge and stimulate their intellect.

ISEO’s second day began with the elocution competition. Teams recited poems and prose passages by famous writers such as Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ghalib, Ahmed Faraz and Allama Iqbal.

Other events included a debate competition, teacher’s open mike as well as, the scrabble competition, classical and folk dance.

Scrabble, introduced for the first time in the Olympiad, is being supervised by the Pakistan Scrabble Association and has proved to be one of the most popular events this year.

The debate competition’s topic, ‘Zinda qaumain apnay rivayaat se pehchaani jaati hain’, sparked a lively discussion between students. They enjoyed discussing Pakistan’s ability as a nation to embrace change and modernity by rejecting retrogressive traditions and holding on to our unique cultural identity.

The teacher’s open mike was an exciting competition, in which teachers expressed themselves freely by acting, reciting poetry and singing.

The day concluded with a dance competition, divided into classical and folk categories. The classical dance competition included students of Sheema Kermani and Sadia Khan. The students performed dances in four classical dance styles: Odissi, Bharatanatyam, Kathak and Manipuri. The dancers were extremely confident and graceful making it difficult for judges to decide the winners. The folk competition filled with hall with colour, as participants stomped on stage with dances representing all four provinces.

Judges for Saturday’s competitions included, educationist and poet Naushaba Zuberi, educationist, actor and women’s rights activist Nuzhat Kidwai, actor and comedian Beo Rana, actor and classical dancer Arjumand Rahim, classical dancer, actor and teacher Mani Chao, classical dancer, actor and women’s rights activist Sheema Kermani.

Results for all the competitions will be announced at the closing ceremony, which will mark the end of the six-day olympiad, on January 2. Press release

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30^th, 2011.