Hong Kong students win medals at International Biology Olympiad (with photo)

     A team of four students representing Hong Kong achieved excellent results at the 35th International Biology Olympiad (IBO), winning two gold medals and two bronze medals.

     The IBO is an international competition for secondary students with emphasis on both theory and practice. Students are required to apply analytical skills and conduct experiments to tackle challenging problems in biology. The 35th IBO was held from July 7 to 14 in Astana, Kazakhstan, with 290 contestants from 75 countries/regions participating in the competition.

     Winning gold medals were Hui Sze-man from La Salle College and Zhang Yixuan from Hong Kong International School. Earning bronze were Sham Pui-yan from Harrow International School Hong Kong and Chan Yik-cheung from St. Joseph's College.

     The Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, congratulated the Hong Kong team today (July 15) on their tremendous performance. "The excellent results achieved by the Hong Kong team in this international competition are testimony to Hong Kong students' analytical ability and creativity in tackling complex problems in biology. I believe that these challenging learning activities could broaden the horizons of students with special potential, and their talent could be further developed.

     "The Education Bureau (EDB) is committed to promoting the setting up of school-based talent pools to identify and nurture gifted students in primary and secondary schools. The EDB has continued to strengthen collaboration with the Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education (HKAGE), to conduct more training and competitions at the territory-wide, cross-territory, national and international levels, with an aim to offer more quality and challenging off-school learning activities, specific to areas related to STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics), for those who are exceptionally gifted to develop their potential," Dr Choi said.

     Members of the Hong Kong team also achieved excellent results in the IBO Hong Kong Contest last year. They subsequently completed the biology enhancement programme provided by the HKAGE. The outstanding students in the programme were then selected as contestants representing Hong Kong to participate in the 35th IBO. The Hong Kong team was fully funded by the EDB to join this competition.