Chennai students did the city and country proud at the recently concluded World Scholar’s Cup Global Round in Kuala Lumpur. This is the first time ever that a team from India has topped this competition. There were 4,000 students from 40 countries participating in the event in three different age categories and in which eight teams from the city took part. The theme was — ‘An Entangled World: diplomacy, human relationships, the science of memory, and literature, art and music’. All eight Chennai teams finished in the top 20% and qualified for the season’s end Tournament of Champions at Yale university in USA.
The KL leg was only the first global round and two more rounds will be held in Barcelona and Melbourne in July and August. The children compete in three categories — 10 to 12 years, 14 years and under and 18 years and under. Team Debate, Collaborative Writing, Written individual Quiz and Team buzzer Quiz are the four categories they participate in.
The Chennai based creative group, ‘A to Zee creativity’ trained the school children to explore their talent beyond academics. Headed by Maithili Shaan Katari Libby, an advocate and passionate public-speaking educator, the group channelises children’s talent and creativity through drama, debate, public speaking, quizzing, creative writing, craft, book discussions, film reviews, and model United Nations, and World Scholar’s Cup training. According to Shaan, “The better you know your syllabus, the better you’re going to do.”
Indian school going children, with a vast academic syllabus to tackle, often may not gain the confidence to beat their foreign counterparts. It is only by exposure that they get better and their performance in KL has proved the point that they are as capable, according to the educator who has been preparing kids for global competitions since 2016.
The Champion overall team in the ‘Under 14’ (Jerries) category comprised Adam Libby (Sishya), Sibhi Aravindan (Sishya), Tejas Narayan (AISC). They came first in South Asia as well as in the Scholar’s Challenge. As the 13th best team overall, Aadi Sai (KC High), Advik Unni (NPS, Chennai), Arun Viji (Sishya) also placed third in South Asia.
The girls’ team ‘Under 12’ (Skittles) comprising Ann Susan George, Tia Thadani and Zai Libby (all from Sishya) came 1st in South Asia, 1st in Scholars Bowl and 2nd in Team Debate. From the Senior Division (under 18), the team that took first place in South Asia comprised Manasa Krishnan, Vikram Barretto (Sishya) and Vikram Noronha (AISC).
