Six Bangladeshi teens win accolades at IMO 2020

International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO) is a contest for high school students across the world. The questions are based on algebra, pre-calculus, projective and complex geometry, functional equations, combinatorics, and number theory.

IMO 2020 was officially scheduled to be conducted in Russia but due to the pandemic, the organisers arranged it virtually, while maintaining strict protocols to ensure the integrity of the results. The committee appointed a neutral invigilator for each of the exam sites and they were asked to check the fairness of these examinations. In Bangladesh, the participants sat at the Prothom Alo office and after each day, the invigilator scanned their papers and uploaded them to the central committee. The entire process of marking and coordination was also done online.

This year, team Bangladeshhas won one silver and five bronze medals. The winners are Ahmed Ittihad Hasib from Dhaka Residential Model College, Ahsan Al Mahir from SOS Hermann Gmeiner College, Maruf Hasan Rubab from Anondo Mohol College, Myemensingh, Adnan Sadik from Kushtia Zilla School, Raiyan Jamil from Notre Dame College and Soumitra Das from Government Rajendra College, Faridpur. The results were declared on IMO's official website and was followed by a short virtual ceremony to congratulate the achievers.

The national level selection procedure was also conducted online and over 50000 students participated in the preliminary round. This was followed by a regional round and national round, after which the winners attended an online camp as a part of their training. The top six performers were selected to represent Bangladesh. The team members are quite content with their performance but regret missing out the conventional socialising events. Although the committee tried their best to come up with fun virtual meetings but without real-life interactions, things seemed dull to most of them. They plan on pursuing their higher education at reputed universities across the world, while continuing to explore mathematics and its various branches.