National Level Science Fair

National Science Fair for Young Children, NSFYC, is conducted as one of the biggest science festivals for Tamil schools in our nation. Unfortunately, for the past 2 years we are unable to proceed with the initial plan to conduct national level science fair as a 2 days event due to Covid-19 outbreak. Therefore, we modified the method of implementation according to the situation and conducted national level science fair as an online competition.

Implementation of National Science Fair for Young Children 2021

In 2020, Association of Science Technology and Innovation (ASTI) and the Science Fair for Young Children Working Group Committee decided to give opportunity to more schools to take part at national level. Thus, 100 schools were selected to participate in National Science Fair for Young Children 2020. This year, we proceeded with the same idea and 100 schools were selected to take part in National Science Fair for Young Children 2021, NSFYC21, which was conducted through online viva method.

For NSFYC 21, the 100 chosen schools were interviewed by our panel of 3 judges. The 100 schools were divided into 9 groups to be judged by the 3 judges. Each group of judges was headed by our 9 state chief judges. Each group had 2 facilitators to communicate with the schools and to sort out technical issues. SFYC Project Committee made sure that the judges are not from the same state of the schools that were assigned to them. The online viva was held on 18 and 25 September. All the schools were invited to a trial session to identify internet connectivity and other technical problems a week before the actual viva date.

The schools which qualified for Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze category underwent another round of judging session on 9^th October to determine the accurate ranking.

All our judging panels were individuals with a strong science background and they followed the judges’ manual to accurately evaluate a project’s merit. The judging committee is an independent team and is led by a National Chief Judge Madam Kalaiselvi Etikkan. After conducting the online viva, the judges were involved in a discussion session to determine the winners.

This year, the number of awards given had been modified. 1 Platinum award, 9 Gold awards, 35 Silver awards and 55 Bronze awards were awarded. The Platinum Award winner received a trophy, medals, e-certificates, cash prize of RM 2,500 together with SFYC Challenge Trophy. Gold Award winners received a trophy, medals, e-certificates and cash prize of RM 1,000. Meanwhile, Silver and Bronze award winners received medals and e-certificates. Teachers received a Certificate of Appreciation. Announcement of the winners was held on 23 October 2021 live via ASTI’s YouTube Channel. The virtual event was hosted by Ms.Revathy Mariappan.

Ramanujan award is presented to honour the teachers who had contributed to their student’s achievements in science advancement in their schools and community as well as in other national and international science competitions.