The 2021 edition of the Zimbabwe Science Fair is set to be held next week following the recent announcement of this year’s finalists. This was announced by the organisers, Science House for African Youth Institute, last week.
The fair, which promotes science and technology among school students, is set to run virtually from 24 to 26 February. The Zimbabwe Science Fair is science and engineering competition for primary and high school young scientists.
Last week the organisers of the event announced the names of the 75 finalists and their innovations from the entries received from different schools from across the country. Zimbabwe Science Fair Director, Knowledge Chikondi praised the high quality of entries which the students put together despite challenging environment characterised by the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown.
“We received 399 entries from 131 schools representing eight provinces in the country. The resilience, remarkable drive and creativity demonstrated by the young scientists represents a hopeful outlook for our future,” Chikondi said.
Turning to the event itself, Chikondi highlighted that the highlights for the students would be the various prizes they stood to win while for visitors and other stakeholders the exhibits would form the main highlight of the event.
“The highlights (of the fair) will always be the amazing work by the finalists. For the young scientists, their highlights will be the awards. We have many grand and special prizes for them.” Chikondi said.
“Maya Ajmera, the president of the Society for Science, will be giving the keynote address during the opening ceremony of the Fair on 24 February,” Chikondi added.
Another highlight is an interview with US-based Gitanjali Rao, who was honoured as one of the “Fortune 30 under 30” individuals and TIME’s Top Young Innovator in 2019 because of her innovations and STEM workshops.
“We invite parents to enter their children in the programming of this year’s Science Fair. We have exciting programs lined up. On the 25th of Feb we are going to launch the Chemistry ShowOffs Zimbabwe and we are inviting teachers and parents to register their children for this,” Chikondi said.
“We invite parents to enter their children in the programming of this year’s Science Fair. We have exciting programs lined up. On the 25th of Feb we are going to launch the Chemistry ShowOffs Zimbabwe and we are inviting teachers and parents to register their children for this,” Chikondi said.