Over 80 students from south take part in Sidon Science Fair

By Mohammed Zaatari
Daily Star staff

SIDON: More than 80 students from 15 schools from south Lebanon exhibited over 30 projects aimed at providing alternative energy sources during the Fourth Lebanese Science Fair held on Saturday in the southern coastal city of Sidon.

The fair was organized by the Hariri Foundation for Sustainable Human Development and the company Intel Corporation and was held at the city’s historic site Khan al-Ifranj.

The students were tasked with finding alternative energy sources and means to use them in protecting the environment. The projects were judged by a panel of 12 Lebanese University professors.

The fair’s three winners will qualify for participation in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair to be held in California on May 9, 2010.

This year’s competition especially gave emphasis to projects and inventions that helped limit pollution, use alternative energy sources and simplify everyday tasks.

The event was also notable for the high number of participants, be it contestants or visitors. Some of the participating schools presented up to 10 projects while about 1,300 students from 30 schools in the south visited the fair.

The event was under the patronage of the head of the Parliamentary Commission for Education and Culture MP Bahia Hariri, who stressed the importance of the fair.

“I admire the enthusiasm of these students and it is obvious that we have succeeded through our program Young Scientists to stir their minds to discover new things,” she said.

However, Hariri voiced regret that the participation of private schools was double that of public schools and said that there was a need to form science clubs and encourage scientific research in the latter.

Project coordinator at Intel Akram Afara also praised the work of the students, saying the projects presented were of good quality.

“The subjects were full of energy and tackled important issues,” he added.

Source: The Daily Star.
Link: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=112740.