5 Reasons why we don’t excel

The problems and the way ahead.

1 Indian students are brought up on the engineering or the medical dream. They focus their energies on doing well in physics, chemistry and maths to secure a seat in the IIT. Doing well in programming will not get them the coveted rank

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2 Indian engineering institutes do not recognise scores of school students who may have done well at the International Olympiad for Informatics conducted by the UN every year. Many institutes in other countries guarantee a seat in engineering institutes for such students

3 School students are not motivated enough to go through the rigour of pushing themselves to get a gold medal at the Olympiad because studying physics, maths and chemistry for the IIT entrance is their priority

4 If IITs start recognising the Olympiad scores, students will be motivated to participate in international programming contests right from the school level. Both the IIIT Hyderabad and Chennai Mathematical Institute give admission on the basis of the score

5 Most engineering students become aware of international programming contests only when they join up for their BTech degrees. That gives them only about two to three years to prepare for a global contest such as the ICPC, unlike their counterparts abroad who are exposed to creative problem solving right from school