Dubai students celebrate a global victory

A group of Dubai students skipped their summer holidays to study and prepare for a global skills competition. Their hard work has paid off as they've returned to Dubai with the world championship trophy.
About 61 students from the GEMS Modern Academy took part in the World Scholar's Cup in Barcelona and won the trophy in the juniors' team category, as well as in the individual category. More than 3,000 students took part from over 60 countries.
The World Scholar's Cup is an annual global event that is held in different countries around the world. The first one was held in 2007 in South Korea and now there are host schools worldwide that hold the competition each year. The contest has four categories and tests students on subjects such as art, music, history, social studies, science and literature.
Sumana Chatterjee, head of the Modern Debating Society and World Scholar's Cup at GEMS Modern Academy, coached the Dubai students.
"I started the World Scholar's Cup at our school long time ago and we had 35 students that time. When we hosted the regional World Scholar's Cup, we had 747 students. So, I've been wanting to get this cup and I've waited eight years to get, that's why it's a glorious moment for me. But the spotlight should be on the students. They worked really hard for this," Chatterjee said.
"I've been coaching these students for the cup. I make books for them and we prepare from that. We really worked hard for this and I was wondering why we weren't winning the cup. The students were thrilled because of the hard work they put in. They compromised their holidays for this. The school exams got over on June 23 and we've been studying since January. We left for the competition on July 20. So, they didn't really get a proper summer holiday like other students."
Grade 9 students Abhay Sharma, Muktha Kaja and Rohit Vivek bagged the trophy for the world champion team in the junior category. Another Grade 9 student Vishnumaya Deepakchandran was awarded the Top Scholar prize in the junior category. GEMS Modern Academy has been a host school for the scholar's cup several times.
This year, the theme of the tournament was "An Entangled World" and included six subjects, such as special area in human relationships, the history of diplomacy, braving the distance in art and music, the science of memory, black markets in social studies and voices of the inseparable in literature.
Each round had different ways of testing the students, including debates, essays and answering questions from the judges.
"It is a calculation of scores that students get in all rounds. There are three debates for each team and the students have to win each debate. There is a writing part where they have to write essays. There are six subjects that they have to study and then answer questions.
sarwat@khaleejtimes.com