National round of Standard Chartered-Prothom Alo programming competition held

The national round of Standard Chartered Bank - Prothom alo Inter-School and College Programming Contest was held on Friday.

Winners of the regional and online selection phase participated in this round that started at 9:00am on Duffodil International University's Shukrabad campus with the screening of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s historic speech of 7 March.

Members of Team Hellbent of BUET, who were chosen to participate in the International Finals International Collegiate Programming Competition (ICPC) in Russia this year, then took the stage.

Its nembers Ashiqul Islam, Arghya Pal and Pritam Kundu inaugurated the competition.

The competitors were then given 11 problems to solve as part of the four-hour main event.

Every team was supposed to comprise of three members. Some of the teams, however, did not have three members, but that did not dampen their spirit.

Several teams of one or two members even made it to the top ten. Farhan Ahmed of Rajshahi University School fought alone. He stood second runner-up at the school level competition.

Some guardians accompanied the competitors. Sylhet MC College student Ananya Talukdar's mother Alpana Talukdar was one of them. Schoolteacher Alpana said, “I am interested in programming, so are girls. I want them to do well, compete at the international level.”

The cultural programme started after lunch with the dance performance of 'Nitta Rang' followed by Sapan Dinar’s magic show.

Around four in the afternoon, panel members Hasinur Rahman, Rafid bin Mostafa and Fahim Shahriar discussed about programming problems.

Delivering the welcome speech at the closing session, Daffodil International University’s head of software engineering Touhid Bhuiyan said, “You will have to solve bigger problems when you grow up.”

Speaking as the chief guest, BUET professor Mohammad Kaikobad suggested that the students should practice hard to do something extraordinary.

He said the Standard Chartered Bank - Prothom Alo Programming Contest and other such programmes are big opportunities for the students.

Standard Chartered Bank Bangladesh CEO Naser Ejaz Vijay said, “We believe you (students) can lead the next generation innovations. You should also be good human beings alongside being good programmers.”

Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman said, “Bangladesh has gone miles in the last 50 years. We have lot more to do in the fields of robotics, programming and technology in the next five decades.”

Speaking as a special guest, ICPC judge Shahriar Manzoor said that students should study mathematics and physics too for doing better in programming.

At the closing ceremony, five schools of remote areas were handed over three laptops each.

Shafin Ahmed, Mahir Labib and Arshad of Rajuk Uttara Model School and College were champions at the school level while Johair, Zobair and Abidur of Mymensingh Zilla School became first runners-up.

Tasim Reza, Jaber Ahmed and Wayes Islam of Notre Dame College became champions at the college level.

Chittagong College's Rubaiyat-i-Zaman, Mamunun Siam and Ankon Dey were runners-up.

Ten teams from both the groups were awarded.

Prothom Alo youth programme’s head Munir Hasan conducted the event.

Standard Chartered Bank’s country head of corporate affairs (brand and marketing) Bitopi Das Chowdhury was also present on the occasion.