"Actually 18 countries have registered, but later only 15 had confirmed their participation in the World Physics Olimpiad` (WoPhO)," head of NTB education, youth and sports agency H Lalu Syafi`i said in Mataram on Tuesday.
He said that the participating countries in the world physics championship, the very first of its kind in Indonesia, for secondary school students, are Turkey, China, Kazakstan, Slovakia, Estonia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Hungary, Russia, Bulgaria, Belarusia, Germany, Brazil, Poland and Indonesia.
The number of WoPhO 2011 participants initiated by Prof Yohanes Surya , founder of the teachers training and education high school (STKIP) Surya reached 140, consisting of 114 Indonesian representatives including 15 from NTB.
"Each participating country has, except Indonesia, actually a chance to send not more than four students who have passed the selection, but there may be some other considerations, so that the number of representatives of each country is different," he said.
Syafi`i said NTB has been appointed host of the first WoPhO because the organizers believed the NTB administration has the experience.
NTB is also believed to be a conducive region with its kindness to the visitors from Indonesia, and abroad.
The world physics championship is to give an opportunity to the hundreds of thousands of students from the world to beat the International Physics Olympiad medalists.
Another purpose is to give an opportunity to a hundreds of thousands of Indonesian students to take part in prestigious competitions and networks with would-be world physics scientists.
"This event is expected to create a new generation of inventors not coming from certain countries in the past", he said.
The organizing committee from Surya Institute Lukman Naode said the world physics championship is open to the general public after passing not too difficult selection. Unlike the physics olympiad which must go through relatively long bureaucratic channels.
Selection of WoPhO 2011 participants is three stages, namely selection round in January-June 2011, discussion round in July-December 2011, and final round from December 28, 2011 to January 3, 2012.
"In his open championship the participants from throughout the world can try their skills and compete with the world`s best students without the limitation of the bureaucratic system in their respective countries," he said.
Lukman said that two winners of physics championship of the "The Best Theoretical Result" category each will receive the main prize of 20,000 US dollars and 10,000 US dollars, and the winner of "The Best Experimental Result" category 10,000 US dollars.
(Uu.H-NG/S012)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
