The Fahaheel Al Wataniah Indian Pvt School team(FAIPS) swept aside all opposition to walk away with the IDF Rolling Trophy awarded for being the winners in the 1st IDF Interschool Health Quiz 2010 held on 26th November 2010.
The event – the first of its kind in the region – was organised by the Indian Doctors Forum, Kuwait as part of their School Health Program. Dr. Prasad Nair, a senior member of the IDF, said in his speech at the event, “the idea is to disseminate health information to school children in an interesting manner… and also to inspire more children to come into the medical profession”. Each school could send one team comprising of students of Class X, XI or XII to participate. Fourteen Indian schools battled it out in the written preliminary held earlier in the day. The top scoring six teams were selected for the finals.
The finalists were:
GULF INDIAN SCHOOL – Shadma Arshad, Josna Miriam Fernandes
INDIAN COMMUNITY SCHOOL SHARA AMMAN- Jay Chidambaram Ambalavanan, Sandeep
INDIAN COMMUNITY SCHOOL SR GIRLS-Bhavani Balasubramaniam, Batul Kaiser Sadliwala
INDIAN EDUCATIONAL SCHOOL (BHAVANS)- Venkata Krisshna P N, Nandhini Narendran G
INDIAN PUBLIC SCHOOL- Ahlaam Akbar Kazi, Mustafa Abbas
FAHAHEEL AL WATANIAH INDIAN PVT SCHOOL- Immanuel Amrita Rhema, Sharwari Rajesh Pandit
The finals, held at KMA Hall, Jabriya witnessed a packed auditorium filled largely with children, their parents and teachers energetically cheering their respective school teams. Dr. Narayanan Nampoory, President, IDF who personally oversaw all the arrangements stated that he was extremely impressed with the level of knowledge of the participating students and reiterated that the event would be held every year.
The quiz covered all health related issues including current topics relevant to health, history of medicine, pioneering scientists, diseases, human biology etc. in eight unique rounds utilising multimedia. The quiz-masters, Dr. Sebastian Mathew and Dr. Ananthapriya Vaidya smoothly presented distinctive rounds one after the other which made the teams and audience full of keen anticipation. The unique format and randomisation in all rounds ensured fairness and the same advantage for each team.
Jay and Sandeep of Indian Community School, Amman Br seemed to have things in control and looked set to be heading for a victory with inspired answers in the initial rounds. However, Immanuel and Sherwari of FAIPS, who were never too far behind, unwaveringly fought back in the crucial buzzer rounds demonstrating cool heads and sharp reflexes to reach top spot.
The event also had a number of questions for the audience with prizes for every correct answer infusing them with lots of energy and enthusiasm. Dr. Amir Ahmed, the Vice-President of IDF, seamlessly integrated the whole event in his role as the master of ceremonies with spontaneity and liveliness.
Mr KN Rao Charge de affairs Indian Embassy graced the occasion and gave away the prizes to all finalist
Mr. E.D. Titus, Director and General Manager of Bahrain Exchange Company (BEC) – the co-sponsor – of the event, awarded the runners up medals to Jay Chidambaram Ambalavanan and Sandeep of Indian Community School, Shara Amman along with slick netbook computers as their 2nd prize.
Mr. T.A Remesh, Country Manager of Gulfmart- the main sponsor of the event- was visibly captivated by the quality of the event. Presenting the IDF Rolling trophy to the winners, FAIPS represented by Immanuel Amrita Rhema and Sharwari Rajesh Pandit, he congratulated the students on their excellent performance. Each student in addition took home a brand new laptop computer each as their 1st prize.
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Dr. Murali Gopal, the General Secretary of the IDF seemed to be everywhere at all times, ensuring all aspects of the event proceeded smoothly. Dr. Niranjan Kumar ,Dr Reji and Dr Surendra Nayak took up the challenging role of the scorers and diligently ensured that all the scoring was valid and accurate. The Floor Managers, Dr Mahesh Kadam, Dr Unnikrishnan, Dr Thinakar and Dr. Sanjay made sure that the audience had a smooth time all through especially in answering the questions for the audience. The written preliminary test was conducted by Dr P.C.Nair, Dr. Sajna Munawar and Dr Rosh Vargheese, Dr. Gangadevi. Dr. Daisy Noble and Dr. Anitha were the gracious Hospitality team. The backup to the quizmasters in terms of research and support was provided by Dr. Reji, Dr. Raju, Dr. Liji and Dr. Noble.
Technical support for the buzzers were provided by the engineers of NITCAA.
The entire event was aptly summed up by a young student, “It was total fun and I learned a lot!”