Ministry announces winners of student science contest
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Education and Culture and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) announced the winners of their scientific contests for teenagers yesterday.
Faizal, a high school student studying aviation technology, took first prize in the ministry-sponsored contest, with his paper entitled An electronic security system for a single railway track between two stations.
High school students Rini Yunianti, from the Central Java town of Klaten, Yati Enoch and Tanti Verawati, both from Merauke, Irian Jaya, won in the categories of social sciences and humanity, natural science and technology, respectively.
Faizal told reporters during the ceremony, which took place at the ministry, that he was inspired by a train accident in Bintaro, south Jakarta, eight years ago. The head-on collision, which happened on Oct. 19, 1987, killed 129 passengers.
Twenty-five high school students from 14 provinces participated in the contest, which was divided into 12 categories, including biology, sociology, agriculture and literature.
Another contest
Rini Yunianti presented a paper entitled The impact of sand quarrying in the Woro river in Manisrenggo village, Klaten.
Yati Enoch, the winner in the natural science category, entitled her paper White clay colloid as a basic wall paint substance.
In the technology category Tanti Verawati discussed the processing technology of residue from Lates Calcarifer fish.
Meanwhile, one of the 31 LIPI-TVRI contest finalists, an elementary school dropout, took runner-up in the social sciences category.
Alamsyah surprised members of the jury with his well-written paper entitled The social, economic and environmental impacts of coral-reef mining in Lombok,.
To date he is the only dropout to have participated in the contest.
Alamsyah, who joined an NGO in Mataram, Lombok, conducted the research based on his own experience and defended his paper at the final on Monday.
Adhiatma Prakasa, a junior high school student in Surabaya, and Baiq Rani Dewi Wulandani, a high school student in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, were the first and second runners-up.
The second prize went to Dwi Kusuma Wahyuni, a student from Jombang, East Java, and the third prize went to Delpi E.K. Sianipar, a student from Balige, North Sumatra.
At the same occasion the ministry also announced Dwi Hartanti from Surabaya and Roby Ikhsan from Banda Aceh as the country's model female and male junior high school students.
Model students at the high school level were Astrid Kartika from Yogyakarta and Erwin Karouw from Manado, North Sulawesi.
Ideal teachers were also announced yesterday. They are Kartiwiningsih of Jayapura, Irian Jaya, in the kindergarten category; Suhardi of Bondowoso, East Java, and Saryanto Andi Prabowo from Magelang, Central Java, in the elementary school category.
Riyanto, a teacher from the Jayawijaya district in Irian Jaya, was named model teacher in the junior high school category, while Ibnu Hajar from Ngawi, East Java, won for model teacher in the senior high category.
Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro presented an award to the Sopo Surung Foundation for establishing a boarding school in Balige, North Sumatra, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Wardiman said that the quality of the four-year-old school is so laudable that 36 of its 40 graduates were admitted to state universities.
All contest winners have been invited to attend the Independence Day celebration at the Presidential Palace tomorrow. (05)