Science Of Winning
Congrats to India’s International Physics Olympiad winners. Would have been great if non-coaching class kids could make the cut too
Amid all the news and noise, did you notice that India just finished as joint winner of the 56th International Physics Olympiad in Colombia? All five boys who represented the country are coming home with a gold each. Last year, it was three golds and two silvers, and overall, in the past 30 years, India’s won around 60 golds and 55 silvers. This is India’s second all-gold performance after 2018. Given how important physics is this century – just look at the valuations of Nvidia, SpaceX and other chips and AI firms – we should all be very proud of this moment.
But as a nation, we also need to pause and reflect on the way we nurture bright minds, encourage them, and then polish them into winners. All five Indian winners this year represent top coaching institutes, not regular schools, whether private or run by govt. It would appear that India’s school pipeline, by itself, isn’t up to equipping the brightest students for tough international competitions. Just as it’s proven inadequate for our JEEs and NEETs. Is that the case elsewhere too? A quick check of last year’s gold-medalists shows Allen Li from US studied at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino. It’s a public school, funded by govt. So is Henry M Gunn High School in Palo Alto, where another gold-medalist, Agastya Goel, studied.
If ends justify means, this conversation is pointless, but if means matter, we should ask why aren’t India’s schools capable of producing such winners on their own. If a small country like Cuba – under US embargo since 1962 – can win occasional medals at the Olympiad, and Iran has won over 100 silvers and golds since 1990, it should be clear that winners can be made without private coaching centres. What’s needed is depth within the school system. But in India, the school base itself is shrinking. Recent reports show over 90,000 govt schools have been shut down over the past 10 years. So, govt’s task is cut out: upgrade course material, teaching and school infra rapidly. Simultaneously, aim for an all-gold team made up of govt school students within the next 10 years.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
