Online BRICS maths contest event held

GD Goenka Public School, Vasant Kunj, had the privilege of hosting the inaugural ceremony of Bricsmath.com, an international online Mathematics competition for students of the BRICS countries.

BRICS brings together five major emerging economies, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The initiatives taken by the BRICS forum nurture the Mathematical skills of children and build their reasoning, critical thinking, problem solving and communication skills.

FICCI Arise partnered with bricsmath.com to launch an online Mathematics competition in 2017. Bricsmath.com is an annual international online Mathematics competition for students of Grades 1 to 12 in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. This year G D Goenka Public School, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, hosted the launch of the third bricsmath.com competition. The inauguration was attended by dignitaries including Nikolay Rishatovich Kudashev, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of India; Mikhail Ktitorov, first secretary, embassy of the Russian Federation; Alexei Illyuviev, second secretary, embassy of the Russian Federation; André Corrêa do Lago, ambassador of Brazil in India; Sec. Pedro Ivo Ferraz da Silva, the head of science, technology and innovation section at the embassy of Brazil; Zhu Xiaohong, chancellor of the embassy of the People’s Republic of China; Sun Meixing, officer, educational department, embassy of the People’s Republic of China; Fyodor Rozovskiy, counsellor and head of the cultural department, embassy of the Russian Federation and director of Russian Centre of Science and Culture (RCSC); Ludmila Filippova, consultant, information and culture, RCSC, Pushkar Vohra, joint secretary academics, CBSE; Kunal Kishore, business consultant; Vaarun Sharma, general manager, India, ISIC; Divya Sharma, manager, strategic partnership, India, ISIC; and Samreen Ghauri, project manager, FICCI and the Bricsmath.com team. The young artists of G D Goenka presented a classical Bharatnatyam dance.

Meenakshi Bhakuni, principal of GD Goenka Public School, Vasant Kunj, welcomed everyone and exhorted the students to participate in Bricsmath.com in large numbers. She expressed the belief that the entire cosmos functions on the basis of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and Maths has helped us to solve many mysteries of life and will continue to do so. Bhakuni said she hoped this competition would imbue a passion for learning in many more students. HE Kudashev evinced his joy that bricsmath.com, the brainchild of a Russian company, was serving the purpose of uniting the students of so many different countries, cultures and backgrounds. HE André Corrêa do Lago was excited about the venture. He encouraged the students to participate in large numbers. Zhu Xiaohong conveyed the best wishes of her ambassador and said the BRICS forum provided an excellent platform for economic, political and cultural cooperation. Vohra conveyed the best wishes of the board for the competition and informed everyone that the CBSE had already issued an advisory to schools informing them about the competition.