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8th USEFP Int'l Schools Educational Olympiad
KARACHI, Jan 12(Daily Times): Froebels, Karachi Grammar
School, Cardinal and Lahore Grammar School, Jauhar Town, were the four teams
that made it to the chess semi-finals on the third day of the Eighth USEFP
International Schools Educational Olympiad Thursday.
Project Director
Sara Malik said the semi-finals would be played on Friday.
Other events
included singing and classical dancing. The chess competition, which had to be
wrapped up after one of the teams was disqualified. The school, which was shown
the door for receiving help from the guy sitting next door, could not be
identified. The singing and dance sections have been included in the Olympiad
for the first time, since its inception in 2000. Almost two dozen schools
participated in both categories and there were some excellent performances. The
game of chess felt more like a friendly match of cricket with both sides helping
the other whenever they made a bad move. Here the number of participants was
close to 40.
Muhammad Wasif overlooked the chess competition. He said the
children were playing according to international rules and standards. He said 32
schools were participating against each other, and two students represented each
school.
Wasif said both teams are given 25 minutes to finish the game,
"otherwise the game would go on and on for hours without any result," he said.
He said the game started after a toss to decide who will make the first move. He
said the player with the white pieces has the first go, according to the rules,
and so the toss is basically held to decide who gets the white piece.
Malik said students, who took part in the classical dance section were
also required to be students of acclaimed classical dancers. They will be given
a list to choose from and will be judged by the same artists. The judges
included Arjumand Rahim, Rumana Hussain and Indrani Roy from India. The results
will be announced during the closing ceremony, she said.
The singing
competition was judged by acclaimed singers of the pop and rock genres. "We had
Shallum and Gumby during the preliminary rounds and then we have Faakhir for the
finals," she said.
When Faakhir asked the organisers to ensure that the
contestants moved quickly some irked parents and participants questioned his
credibility. It was at this point that the chief organiser Karachi High School
(KHS) Principal Perveen Kassim clarified the rules.
Ms Kassim also
advised the students that for the singing segment they would not only judge them
on their vocals about also for the songs they chose.
The results for this
category would be announced Sunday. The Olympiad also includes a quiz
competition, both for students and teachers. A special conductor has been
invited from India, Michael D’Crouze. He said that he would be very punctual and
expected the same from the contestants.
D’Crouze also asked the audience
to be patient with the judges. He said education taught one to be patient and
respect others, "and if you don’t have these qualities then, your education is
useless," he said.
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