Hong Kong team achieves excellent results at International Junior Science Olympiad (with photo)

     A team of six students representing Hong Kong achieved outstanding results in the 21st International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO 2024), winning a total of two gold and four silver medals.  

     The IJSO is a science competition for secondary students aged 15 or below. The competition, covering physics, chemistry and biology up to the senior secondary level, comprises written assessments and science experiments that require students to analyse and solve unfamiliar problems. The IJSO 2024 was held in Romania from December 2 to 12 with the participation of around 300 contestants from 52 countries or regions.  

     Chan Tsz-kiu (Queen's College) and Tian Yu-yang Timothy (St. Paul's Co-educational College) each won a gold medal. Silver medalists are Chan Wai-yu (Po Leung Kuk No. 1 W. H. Cheung College), Chan Wing-yan (St. Paul's Co-educational College), Ma Sum-yuet (St. Paul's Co-educational College) and Yang Chun-chak (St. Paul's Co-educational College). 

     The Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, congratulated the Hong Kong team today (December 13) on their remarkable performance. "The excellent results of the Hong Kong team, which have demonstrated our students' exceptional talent in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics) and their persistence in learning, is indeed very commendable. The Education Bureau (EDB) will continue to strengthen the promotion of STEAM education in primary and secondary schools to nurture innovation in students, as well as step up the promotion of the effective use of the school-based student talent pool for identifying and nurturing more STEAM talent," she said.

     "The EDB has been attaching great importance to the grooming of gifted students and will strengthen the collaboration with the Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education (HKAGE) to offer more diversified training, and arrange for students to participate in territory-wide, cross-territory, national and international competitions so that students with potential in STEAM subjects have more opportunities to further develop their potential and nurture future innovation and technology talent for Hong Kong," she added. 

     The members of the Hong Kong team achieved excellent results in the International Junior Science Olympiad – Hong Kong Screening last year. They subsequently completed the science enhancement programmes provided by the HKAGE. The outstanding students in the programmes were then selected as contestants representing Hong Kong to participate in the IJSO 2024. The Hong Kong team was fully funded by the EDB to join this competition.