Meeting of the Minds
The inaugural ‘Competition of Intellectuals’ took place this year at the Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies, conducted through the intellectual club ‘Zakovat’ with support from the United Nations Information Office (UNO) and the center of youth initiatives ‘Kelajak ovozi’. The competition saw the participation of 60 students from Tashkent’s leading high schools, who compared their abilities and competed for victory. Held in recognition of UN Day, the competition intended to identify and support young talents while raising awareness of the activities of UN agencies in Uzbekistan.
It was the competition’s intention to identify the most intelligent of Uzbekistan’s youth, while improving their knowledge of the different United Nations agencies and honing their interest in the activities and projects undertaken in Uzbekistan.
Before the competition began, teams of skilled and knowledgeable students from selected Tashkent high schools attended a training program to discuss topics related to the United Nations. Other participants in the competition included teams from the Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies, the Tashkent State Legal Institute, the Tashkent Financial Institute and the National University of Uzbekistan.
In accordance to the competition rules, each participating team had to correctly and quickly answer questions designed to test their knowledge of the United Nation’s activities, their general knowledge and their logical thinking. The competition also gave students a chance to use their problem-solving and decision-making skills, to strengthen their leadership abilities, to participate in friendly competition and to make new friendships.
Aziz Abdullaev, a member of the winning team from the National University of Uzbekistan, spoke about his experience during the event. “During the competition we really got the feeling of a formal television quiz,” Mr. Abdullaev said. “The competition was devoted to the United Nations and this made it even more interesting. For days we searched for relevant information, read about the United Nations’ activities, and took on as much information as we could. It was our general spirit of unity that really helped us to win.”
Each participant received a certificate at the end of the competition, while the winners collected prizes and invitations to a celebratory evening on UN Day. Shabanov Zhumali Kazimovich, the pro-rector on spiritually-educational affairs of the Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies, has expressed his appreciation for the competition. “We are pleased by the fact that the students have been trained for this competition out our institute,” Mr. Kazimovich said. “In order to support and encourage the student’s aspirations, we decided to support the ‘Competition of Intellectuals’ which also saw the participation of students from other high schools in Tashkent. Everyone at the event showed excellent results. The event has been support by the United Nations Information Office in Tashkent, the center of youth initiatives ‘Kelajak ovozi’ and the intellectual club ‘Zakovat’; a collaboration which has made the competition that much more effective.”
Hushnud Hudojberdiev, a member of the intellectual club ‘Zakovat’, expressed why he was interested in the competition. “When my friends from the State Institute of Oriental Studies suggested that we hold an intellectual tournament between capital high schools regarding United Nations activities, I was happy to help organise the event,” he said. “After the intellectual tournament’s results were posted, we determined that the competition’s participants were well prepared. I think that ‘Zakovat’ will continue to co-operate with the Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies in the arrangement of future intellectual competitions.”
While all the competition’s teams performed to the best of their abilities, three winning teams were ultimately recognised. The team from the National University of Uzbekistan came first, while the teams from the Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies and the Tashkent Financial Institute came second and third respectively.