Over 100 young inventors in the fray for YIC Trophy

Wednesday, 1 April 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

YIC (Young Inventors Club) is the first ever TV reality show organised by the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission for the school level inventors and it is being telecast every Sunday at 10:30 on ITN. YIC is co-sponsored by Sampath Bank. This is the second successive year this program goes on air. The program had won the coveted best educational quiz program award at the 2013/2014 Raigam Tele Awards. This is being conducted with a view to promote the activities of the Young Inventors Clubs in the schools. Every week the participating two teams get a problem that needs an innovative solution. Student inventors then get one hour to come up with a solution as a concept drawing. They have to then present the solution concept and defend the viability of same with the panel of judges who consist of senior inventors, scientists and engineers themselves. In order to ensure that the communication skills do not hinder effective presenting of the solution all students get trained on how to make the presentations effectively by the Sampath Bank Toast Masters Club. The schools who compete this year are Dodangoda Miriswatta National School-Opanayake Vidyakara Maha Vidyalaya, Kuliyapitiya Central College-Anuradhapura, Yakalla Maha Vidyalaya- Balangoda, Ananda Maithreya Central College-Mathugama, C.W.W. Kannangara Central College-Eheliyagoda, National School-Ananda College, Colombo-Nalanda College, Colombo- Sammanthurai Muslim Madya Maha Vidyalaya-Ambalangoda, Dharmashoka Vidyalaya- Kalugamuwa Central College-Mahinda College, Galle-Meepawala Amarasooriya School- Musaeus College, Colombo-Rajasinghe Central College, Hanwella- Princes of Wales College, Moratuwa- Gampola Wickramabahu Central College-Gnanodaya Central College, Kalutara and St. Thomas’ Girls’ High School, Matara. Those who win at the preliminary rounds will enter the semi finals and the final round will be on 9 April. The winners will be presented with the coveted YIC Award by SLIC and the ITN will recognise the most popular team based on SMS votes. Though there is a circular compelling almost all the schools to have inventors clubs in reality it does not happen due to lack of man power in most schools. The commission too does not have sufficient manpower to actively promote the clubs by visiting regions; hence this strategy of promoting the clubs via television was selected. This has increased the interest among student population. The over 1,500 inventions submitted for evaluation at provincial competitions last year was a reflection of this enhanced enthusiasm. Students who take part in this learn not only to critically evaluate a problem in a short period of time and then to come up with a creative solution they also develop the ability to collaborate in a team, build strong self confidence. These become apparent when one sees how confidently the children defend the solutions they have come up with. From the Ministry of Education there is a separate directorate that overlooks the promotion of innovativeness among student population and the commission work very closely with that unit in organising this tele-series. The past programs can be viewed by visiting the Inventors Commission website www.slic.gov.lk. Sri Lanka Inventors Commission functions under the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and is established by an act of parliament in 1979.