FITIS and Ministry of Education recognises 126 Young Computer Scientists (YCS)
View(s):FITIS (Federation of Information Technology Industry Sri Lanka) and Ministry of Education organised the Young Computer Scientists Award for the 18th consecutive time supported by ICTA & Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT).
The award ceremony was held recently at the Auditorium of the Ministry of Education under the patronage of Mr. N H M Chithrananda, Secretary of Ministry of Education, Mr. H U Premathilake, Additional Secretary of Ministry of Education, Mr. P M Salahudeen, Additional Secretary of Ministry of Education, Dr. Prasad Samarasinghe, Vice Chairman FITIS, Mr. Fairooz Habeeb, Vice President of Software Chapter FITIS, Mr. Aruna Alwis CEO of FITIS, Mr. Prabath Wickremaratne, President of Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL) and Officials, Prof. K P. Hewagamage, Director UCSC and Dr. Samantha Mathara Arachchi, Lecturer UCSC, Officials of ICTA and Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT).
Spokesperson from FITIS said that, this time there was an overwhelming response for the competition and 126 Young Computer Scientists were recognised from both national and International schools for their talents and innovations in computing.
The YCS competition is open for three groups of students; aged 10 to 12 the sub junior category, 13 to 16 junior category and 17 to 20 years, the senior category. The selection process is based on an initial assessment from a panel of judges, followed by a presentation/demonstration by the students and a final judgment by the same panel selected amongst industry and academia. This year the panel of judges were headed by Prof. K P. Hewagamage, Director University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC).
Overall winners of the competition were nominated for the Asia Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA) 2019 held in Vietnam in November 2019. This year overall winners who participated in APICTA were, 18 year old B. G. N. A. Gamaarachchi from Ranabima Royal College, Kandy, 19 year old H. M. M. K. K. B. Herath of Poramadulla Central from Kandy, 20 year old W N D Fernando of Ch/ Medagama Abhaya from Chilaw, 15 year old S. B. Karunasena of OKI International, Biyagama as well as 13 year old L. M. Y. Jayasinghe of Thurstan College, Colombo and 10 year old Kisali R Dhanapala of Sri Rahula College, Anuradhapura.
More details of the next years competition can be obtained by calling FITIS Secretariat on 0112577103.