Hong Kong students triumph at 36th International Olympiad in Informatics (with photo)

     A team of four students representing Hong Kong achieved excellent results in the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) 2024, winning one gold medal, two silver medals and one honourable mention. Representatives from 96 countries or regions from all over the world participated in this year's IOI, which was the 36th event and was held in Egypt.

     The four students awarded at the IOI 2024 are as follows:

     Gold medal: Wong Chun (Pui Ching Middle School)  
     Silver medal: Kwan Yung-ho (Diocesan Boys' School)
                         Siu Lok-yin (Wah Yan College (Kowloon)) 
     Honourable mention: Choy Tsz-chai (La Salle College)
                 
     The Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, today (September 9) congratulated the team on their excellent performance in the competition. "It is very encouraging to see the remarkable achievements of the Hong Kong team in the IOI, which are the results of the students' persistent work and have demonstrated their problem-solving skills and computer programming abilities," she said. 

     "I wish to extend my gratitude to the school sector for partnering with the Education Bureau (EDB) in promoting STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) education in Hong Kong. The schools not only promote innovation and technology education and information technology in education through classroom teaching, but also provide various learning opportunities outside the classroom including project learning and participation in competitions so as to enable students to utilise their knowledge and skills in STEAM-related areas to solve problems, thereby nurturing their creativity, enriching their learning experience and broadening their horizons."

     The IOI under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is for secondary school students under the age of 20. It aims to promote coding education, nurture students' computational thinking and problem-solving skills, and is the most recognised worldwide computer science competition for secondary school students.

     Since 1997, the EDB and the Hong Kong Association for Computer Education have jointly organised the Hong Kong Olympiad in Informatics (HKOI). Outstanding winners from the HKOI are selected as Hong Kong representatives every year to enter the IOI. They are required to attend a series of training programmes to better prepare for the international competition. In a tradition of passing the torch, many of the trainers are previous contestants of the IOI.