School F1 challenge may come to India

If all goes well, select schools in India may in the years to come host Formula One (F1) challenges with help from Singapore.
Andrew Denford, founder and chairman of Singapore’s F1 in Schools Technology Challenge, said that he was looking forward to organising F1 races in Indian schools in the near future. “We have an offer from a businessman to organise a school F1 challenge in India. I hope it could be organised in the next couple of years,” he told DNA.

The F1 in Schools Technology Challenge is fast spreading its wings in Singaporean schools, shaping up future Michael Schumachers. This year’s F1 in Schools finals coincided with the 2010 Formula One Singapore Grand Prix that took place in the fourth week of September.

Denford said, “Students get the opportunity not only to have a glimpse of the sport but also to try their hands at designing, car making, marketing for sponsorships, and finally competing at an international level.”

The initiative is part of the Experiential Learning Programmes launched recently by the Singapore Tourism Board. The board’s deputy director for enrichment Yen Nee Tan said: “The F1 initiative was not only a fun-filled and engaging experience for the 210 students who participated from across the world but it also complemented Singapore’s global and cosmopolitan outlook on education,” she said.

She added: “Our intention is to offer students Singapore as a destination for living classrooms. The education is made not only exciting and enriching but it is also safe, clean and comfortable”
Other initiatives include Sentosa’s Nature Discovery Journeys. In these, students meet hornbills and toucans and feed mice to one-month-old baby owls. As part of another programme, students get to live underwater with fish and other species to learn about their ways of living.