IChemC to host the Chemistry Olympiad – Sri Lanka – 2018
The Institute of Chemistry Ceylon will host the Chemistry Olympiad Sri Lanka 2018 with the intention of increasing interest in Chemistry and facilitating the learning of fundamental concepts of Chemistry amongst school children. The preliminary selection examination of the competition will be held on 11th March 2018 at ten universities covering Colombo, Kandy, Ja f f n a , B a d u l l a , Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Mathara and Batticaloa districts. Grade 12 students following both Bio Science and Physical Science streams are invited to participate from each school. Depending on the performances of the preliminary examination, the students will be selected to take part in the final round of the Chemistry Olympiad Sri Lanka 2018 in May 2018.
The Institute of Chemistry Ceylon is looking forward to participating the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) to be held in 2018 and 2019 representing Sri Lanka as observers with the aim of sending a team for IChO in 2020. The International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) is a competition organized for secondary school students of all levels from all over the globe with the objective of promoting their creativity and cognitive skills in solving chemistry problems. The IChO steering committee has officially accepted the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon (IChemC) as the official organizer to conduct the National Chemistry Olympiad competition in Sri Lanka. In 2016, the governing Council of the IChemC formed a committee comprising of academics attached to universities and institutes to organize and conduct the National Chemistry Olympiad Competition in Sri Lanka, which is named as “Chemistry Olympiad Sri Lanka”.
The first Chemistry Olympiad Sri Lanka (COSL) was successfully conducted on 15th and 16th May 2017 at Adamantane House, Institute of Chemistry Ceylon, Rajagiriya. U. N. Samaranayake (Mahamaya Girls College, Kandy) won the first place while S. P. Mudalige ( Maliyadewa Balika Vidyalaya, Kurunegala) and A. A. G. H. Abeysinghe ( Mahamaya Girls College, Kandy) secured second and third places respectively of COSL 2017. Six Merit awards were awarded to P. I. U. Wijewardana (Maliyadewa Balika Vidyalaya, Kurunegala), S. Weeranayaka (Richmond College, Galle), Y. S. Ginige ( Richmond College, Galle), P. M. S. T. Pathinisekara ( Mahamaya Girls School, Kandy), T. L. ( Anula Vidyalaya, Nugegoda) and H. G. Gunasinghe ( Joesph Vaz Vidyalaya, Wennappuwa).
IChemC would like to invite schools from all over the country to participate at the preliminary selection examination. For more details and applications can be downloaded from the IChemC website http:// www. ichemc. edu. lk. The closing date for applications is 8th February 2018.
Dr. Chitnaka Ratnaweera and Dr. Ireshika De Silva Chemistry Olympiad Committee/ Institute of Chemistry Ceylon