Belarussian schoolchildren led by BSU teachers have won to bronze medals at the 19th International Geography Olympiad (iGeo-2023). The event ended on august 13 in Bandung (Indonesia).

Among the winners are a graduate of Vitebsk gymnasium #2 Oleg Pavlovich and student of Vitebsk gymnasium #1 named after Zhores Alferov Vadim Ignatenko. The team also had Roman Penyaz, representing Slutsk gymnasium #1 and Alexandra Bogdanova from school #18 of Baranovichi.

This successful team had Alexander Karpichenko and Andrei Bezruchenok as its leaders. Alexander Karpichenko is a deputy dean on scientific work and international cooperation of the faculty of geography and geo-informatics of BSU and Andrei Bezruchenok is an associate professor of economic and social geography of the same faculty.

In order to win, the contestants needed to complete a multimedia test, solve theoretic tasks on physic and socio-economic geography and demonstrate practical skills in solving geographic cases in the field conditions. Every single task was in English and, which is more, geography Olympiads are the only ones to have no tasks translated into Russian.

This year iGeo-2023 welcomed 177 fighting-to-win students from 46 countries.

The event was organized by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia.

Reference.

International Geography Olympiad takes place annually since 1996 and its patron is International geographical union. The event seeks promoting willingness among young scientists to conduct geographic and ecologic researches. It is possible to compete for students aged 16 to 19. Throughout its history, the number of participating-countries expanded from five to 54 countries.