Mauritian students excel in Australian STEM Design Competition

Four Mauritian schools namely the Royal College Curepipe, the Queen Elizabeth College, the Loreto Convent of Quatre-Bornes and the St Esprit College were awarded for their performance in Monash University’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) Competition during a special award ceremony that was held at the Rajiv Gandhi Science Centre on Monday 26 September.  Heervesh Lallbahadur, Ruttanah Ruchit and Alexandre Raymond from St Esprit College’s “Smart Trolley” invention won them the Country Prize. 

The Mauritian students, who impressed the jury of Monash University’s STEM Design Competition with their innovative ideas, were presented their awards by the President of the Republic, H.E. Dr Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, the Australian High Commissioner, HE Ms Susan Coles and academics from Monash University.

Monash’s “Identify, Create, Change” STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) was launched in March 2016 to challenge high school students to harness science and technology to make a change in their world. High school students were asked to tackle problems in their community using science and technology to make a difference and share their ideas with leading researchers based at Monash University in Australia.

Students were asked to complete three steps before submitting their entry:

Step 1: Planning phase. Students were asked to think about a problem and determine why it was important and how solving it would benefit their community.

Step 2: Design phase. Students then got to work designing a STEM solution to their problem. They had to invent a device that incorporated theory from the disciplines of science and technology. We challenged students to think creatively, telling them that there was no idea that was too impossible, too big or too small.

Step 3: Submission. The final entries comprised the design sketch as well as a written submission that discussed the science and technology used to solve the problem. All elements were submitted together and then presented for judging.

Once the entries were completed they were delivered back to Melbourne, Australia to the official judging panel.

Commenting at the award ceremony, the Australian High Commissioner, HE Ms Susan Coles said : “We are delighted that Australian STEM competitions such as the Australian Mathematics Competition and the Monash STEM Design Competition are attracting more and more participation by Mauritian students.  Events such as the one that we are celebrating today are an excellent way to encourage students creativity and STEM in schools. And I look forward to other opportunities where Australia and Mauritius can collaborate to further develop this.”