PETALING JAYA, Nov 30 — Four young inventors from George Town have made Malaysia proud after they bagged six international awards and a gold medal for their winning “noise reducer” at an invention contest in Hong Kong on Saturday.
The inventors — Usha Chandrika Vijendran, Caelyn Evelyn Thomas, Vaishanavi Chandrasegaran and Shalini Privyanka Kannan — all Year 6 students from SJKT Ramakrishna turned stars at the 3rd Hong Kong International Student Innovation Invention Contest 2015-2016. The girls, all aged 12, were accompanied by their science teacher who was also their project manager, Syamala Durairaj, 26.
The team came up with the invention following noise pollution woes in developing nations. It is aimed at reducing noise levels, especially those created by household appliances.
SJKT Ramakrishna was the only school to have won six international awards and a gold medal from the organiser during the competition.
They received the Hong Kong Special Award, Honour of Invention by World Invention Intellectual Property Associations, Special Awards by Indonesian Invention and Innovation Promotion Association, Indonesian Education and Learning Foundation and Malaysian Invention and Design Society and Leading Innovation Award by the Macao Innovation and Invention Association. The girls were also presented the Gold Medal by the organiser Yan Chai Hospital Lim Por Yen Secondary School.
The team returned from Hong Kong late last night.
P. Subashini, who was the assisting teacher for the project, said she was happy with the school’s achievement.
“More importantly, the girls received well-deserved recognition for their hard work,” she said.
“I could not have been prouder,” she said of the girls who she described as smart, well-spoken and capable.
Subashini said the team worked for about four months to complete the project last year. Another teacher, R. Rajendran, 56, also assisted in the project.
She also thanked the school’s headmistress K. Punaveswary for her support.
“She would visit us and support us. In fact, she came up with the idea.”
Punaveswary said she was happy and proud that students from her school won the award.
The team had last year won competitions in the Science Fair for Young Children by the Association of Science, Technology and Innovation at the state and national levels.
This is the second feat achieved by the school. In March, S. Durgashini, P. Kumurthashri and G. Sugheson defeated 300 participants worldwide to win the 35th Beijing Youth Science Creation Competition 2015. Their winning invention was an eco-friendly thermo container.
