Yahoo! India News Thu, Mar 18, 2004
Top Stories Thursday March 18, 8:30 AM |
Bournvita contest? Now comes Horlicks quiz
By Sudeshna Sarkar, Indo-Asian News Service
Kathmandu, Mar 18 (IANS) If Indian schools can have a Bournvita quiz, why can't neighbouring Nepal have a Horlicks contest?
The first Interschool Horlicks Mathematics Quiz will kick off April 11, with the finals scheduled for May 29 after five rounds to be held in the five development regions of the country.
While the sponsors are the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, which owns the nutritional product Horlicks, the organisers are a private school in Kavre district.
The Kathmandu University High School, which last year organised a maths quiz in the district attended by about 50 schools, was inspired by the response it got from students to think of launching it on a national level.
Say Govinda Rizal and Suman Bandhu Koirala, who represent the school's Mathematics Council: "Mathematics is taught in schools as a compulsory subject but the teaching lacks motivation.
"One of our objectives is to give learning maths a practical base and make it full of fun and challenges."
The district-level quiz had no major sponsor. The schools paid a registration fee of Rs.200 and Kathmandu University High School chipped in to host lunch for the participants, the teachers accompanying them and others.
However, this time, realising a national-level programme that would also require travelling to different regions, would need more funds, the organisers started looking for corporate sponsors.
"We approached potential sponsors and Rathin Senyal, Horlicks country director, and Gajendra Bajracharya of the same organisation invited us for a discussion," says Rizal.
According to the negotiations, while the Mathematics Council would conduct the quiz, Horlicks will provide financial support in lieu of having the quiz christened the Horlicks quiz.
Organisers would also have to include the Horlicks logo in all correspondence, use Horlicks products during the programmes and display Horlicks banners at all venues.
The company has re-launched its flagship brand Pleasurable Nourishment Horlicks in the local market in four flavours: regular, chocolate, vanilla and honey buzz in order to boost sales that slowed down in 2001. In 2002, sales declined by nine percent in Nepal.
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