Decmber 3, 2009
By Irfan Aligi By Irfan Aligi
KARACHI: St. Joseph Girls College, Karachi has returned back to Pakistan after leaving participants from 40 courtiers at the Quanta-2009, the Fifteenth International Competition for Science, Mathematics, Electronics and Computer Science held at Lucknow, Utter Pardesh, India from Nov 14 to 17 surprised.
The team, although, had contested all segments of the competition as team of two and could not qualify for majority of parts of the competition but Shaheera Abdul Jalil Albasit secured “First Honourable Mention” award in speech competition. The venue of the competition in Lucknow was the City Montessori School, Lucknow, India.
The student, Shaheera who had written her speech was moved by the presence of students from universities, colleges and schools from 40 countries so she on the spot modified the text of speech for final delivery.
Of various options of the theme of the speech, “Science Can Not Progress With The Constraints Of Morality”, Shaheera opted to focus on difference between Science and Morality as she had chosen Albert Einstein’s popular quote, “Gravitational Attraction Is Not Responsible For People Falling In Love”.
While Shaheera kept on giving explanation of the quote, the audience stayed mesmerized and when she finished her speech, the hall had echoed with cheers for Pakistan. In particular, the Nepalese, the Malaysian and the Singaporean participants offered unprecedented appreciation to Pakistan with Hey Pakistan, Hey Pakistan slogans.
Telling about her journey to Lucknow, Shaheera told Daily Times that a classmate of her had learned about the Quanta competition while she was busy with search on the Internet. Then they decided to file a nomination and the administrator of the competition had accepted them as the sole participants from Pakistan.
It is to note that St. Patrick’s College, Karachi and Beacon House School, Lahore had also applied but only the St. Joseph Girls College, Karachi was selected for the competition for the first time.
On getting approval for the participation in the competition, these five girls approached their schoolteacher, Mrs Muhammadi Iqbal Kazmi for further preparations. The biggest obstacle ahead of them was lack of necessary funds.
Shaheera contacted Sindh Minister for Youth Affairs, Faisal Sabzwari who referred them to City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal for help.
The City Nazim had asked the District Coordination Officer Karachi Muhammad Hanif Khan to make necessary financial arrangements. Finally, the DCO had issued a cheque of Rs 206,400.
Shaheera told Daily Times that a five-member delegation participated in the Quanta-2009. There they were divided into teams of two and they took part in different competitions of Mathematics, Science and astrology but they could not qualify the second round, as that was a buzzer competition.
However, in the debate competition, which was solo, she secured the position for the country, she vowed.
It was a matter of policy that each speaker had to answer a few question after delivery of speech. The successful candidates were given additional five points while the losers had to lose five points from a total of points secured.
However, my speech was widely lauded so the jury had awarded five additional points to my total points, said Shaheera.“I am proud that I have earned a good name for my country, which the whole world had witnessed”.
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