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The Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, today (June 24) presented the flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to the six students who will represent Hong Kong in the 55th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in South Africa from July 6 to 13.
Speaking at the IMO Preliminary Selection Contest - Hong Kong 2014 prize-giving and flag presentation ceremony, Mr Ng said, "The HKSAR Government has been supporting outstanding students in Hong Kong to participate in various international exchange activities which can provide exchange and learning platforms for these outstanding students in different domains and opportunities for them to demonstrate their talent.
"The Education Bureau (EDB) has pledged to support the IMO Hong Kong Committee to organise the 57th International Mathematical Olympiad in Hong Kong in 2016 in order to further promote mathematics and science education in schools and identify more talent."
Mr Ng encouraged students to have a good grasp of basic mathematics at secondary schools. He said he hoped that by participating in international competitions, students' interest in mathematics would be stimulated and their mathematical competence enhanced.
The IMO Preliminary Selection Contest - Hong Kong 2014 was jointly organised by the EDB, the Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education (HKAGE) and the IMO Hong Kong Committee.
The Hong Kong IMO team is led by Dr Leung Tat-wing. The six Hong Kong representatives are Cheung Wai-lam (S4) from Queen Elizabeth School, Lau Chun-ting (S5) from Diocesan Boys' School, Wong Sze-nga (S6) from Diocesan Girls' School and Hui Pak-nam (S6), Wong Hing-shing (S6) and Yu Hoi-wai (S3) from La Salle College.
At the ceremony today, prizes were also given to the winners of the IMO Preliminary Selection Contest - Hong Kong 2014, and students who had outstanding achievements in the Asian Pacific Mathematics Olympiad 2014. A total of 582 students who excelled in mathematics from 117 local secondary schools participated in the IMO Preliminary Selection Contest - Hong Kong 2014. Thirteen students were presented with the gold award, 23 students with the silver award and 32 with the bronze award.
A series of structured enhancement training programmes will be organised for these high-achieving students. After the training, some of the most outstanding students will be selected to represent Hong Kong in the 56th IMO to be held in 2015.
Other prizes presented at the ceremony included awards for the 57th International Mathematical Olympiad 2016 Logo Design Competition. The winning design will be used as the official logo of the 57th IMO.
Also officiating at the ceremony were the Chairman of the IMO Hong Kong Committee, Professor Shum Kar-ping, and the Executive Director of HKAGE, Professor Ng Tai-kai. Other guests of honour included the President of the Legislative Council (LegCo), Mr Jasper Tsang, and LegCo member, Mrs Regina Ip.
Ends/Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Issued at HKT 19:38
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