Students' logic, not result win out

JAKARTA (JP): Getting the right result was not everything for high school students competing in the finals of the annual physics and mathematics competition organized by Atmajaya Catholic University on Tuesday.

"This is more about process than result," the head of the competition committee, Legijono, said as each of the four finals teams fought against the clock to answer questions on a computer screen.

"This is an arena for training students' abilities in research, writing and presentation," he said of the contest, which this year involved 44 senior high schools from Greater Jakarta and Lampung.

Judging was carried out by a panel of lecturers from Atmajaya Catholic University, who presented their particular approach to answering each of the nine questions on an overhead projector.

Participants were allowed to argue with the jury if they did not agree with its approach.

"There was no one way to answer each question," Legijono said.

This year's winner was Central Jakarta high school SMUK III BPK Penabur, whose teacher, Susana, said "this kind of competition respects logic".

An earlier competition on scientific writing was won by SMU Kanisius in Central Jakarta from 15 entrants.

The Education and Culture Ministry's director general for private schools, Umaedi, said: "education institutions should promote this kind of competition to bring out students' abilities."

Umaedi said the competition was a "measuring rod for student achievement".

This year's competition was the third run by the university. (ind)