The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia won a new bronze medal in the International Olympiad in Informatics 2021, in its 33rd edition, organized by Singapore remotely, from June 19 to 25.
Fares Al-Basiouni from Yanbu won a bronze medal competing with 351 students, representing 88 countries. Therefore, the Kingdom’s number of awards in its third participation in the competition is two bronze medals, as the Saudi team’s participation in the Olympiad began in 2019.
The Kingdom has participated in the International Olympiad in Informatics and other international competitions through a strategic partnership between the Ministry of Education and "Mawhiba", which extends for more than two decades, to identify, foster and empower the gifted. This partnership represents a leading model for cooperation among the government and non-profit organizations, to make global achievements by investing in the children of the country.
The country was represented - in the prestigious competition that requires solving problems using program languages - by a team included the following students: Faris Bassiouni, from Yanbu industrial education department, Muhammad Al-Saad, from Dammam education department, and Hamid Al-Hudhali, and Abdul Mohsen Saleh, from Jeddah education department.
The Kingdom’s team participating in the Informatics Olympiad underwent intensive training at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology “KAUST” under the supervision of specialists in the field of informatics. The Saudi Informatics Team has received more than 2,500 hours of training over 4 years since its members joined Mawhiba program for the International Olympiad in Informatics since 2018 and 2019.
It is noteworthy that this participation is a part of Mawhiba International Olympiad program, which is held in a strategic partnership with the Ministry of Education, which makes the students available to attend the training camps throughout the year. This program is also one of 20 different initiatives of advanced curricula and enrichment programs, in the fields of science, engineering and health, provided by Mawhiba for gifted students annually on a journey through which the gifted students pass through several stages, to explore and enhance their tendencies, and empower and invest in them with its local and international partners.
