The International Informatics Olympiad in teams kicks off in Syria for the first time

With the participation of 20 school teams representing 10 Arab and foreign countries, the competitions of the International Informatics Olympiad for School Teams started today and remotely for its seventh session of the 2024 season. Syria is officially hosting this event for the first time through the Syrian Science Olympiad at the Distinction and Creativity Agency. It lasts until May 12.

Head of the Distinction and Creativity Agency Hala al-Daqaq said in a video statement “our pride in hosting this event has doubled; firstly, because of the importance of this event in the world of technology and informatics and its international races, and secondly, because hosting this event confirms that Syria remains, despite crises and challenges, full of competencies, capabilities and qualitative experiences and we are still working to incubate and nurture Syria’s creative talents wherever they may be.”

Ammar al Nahhas, National Coordinator of the current Olympiad, said in a statement: “This competition reflects a unique opportunity for high school students to compete differently in Competitive Programming, where collective participation contributes to supporting the spirit of teamwork among participants and stimulates a new way of thinking based on sharing work, tasks and using resources collectively.

It also supports the competitive spirit between schools and various institutions, encourages the dissemination of information and computer science culture in general among school students and directs those interested in this field to the right path.”

Laszlo Nikazi, the International Coordinator of the competition, explained that the teamwork in the competition is very attractive and special, as thinking collectively about a difficult task and joint programming is fun. “the students’ helping each other and achieving great results is a rewarding experience” he said.

The Olympiad aims to solve a set of Competitive Programming Problems similar to the individual world Informatics Olympiad problem pattern, in addition to enhancing the teamwork skill required in the software job market, and exchanging knowledge and experience between students with the same interests and qualifications, through a test that includes at least 7 problems, and trying to solve them in Pascal, C ++ and C languages within 4 continuous hours, in which the team uses at most two computers.

The twenty teams participating remotely in the Olympiad are Romania, Italy, Hungary and Egypt, while Iran, Slovakia, Pakistan, Bulgaria and Armenia are participating as guests.

Syria will participate with five teams, the member states will participate with a maximum of three teams per country, while the guests will participate with one team from each country.

Amal Farhat