The 14th Inter-School Bangla Olympiad will begin on February 22 at the premises of the International Hope School Bangladesh (IHSB) in the city’s Uttara area with the participation of a large number of students from English medium and English version schools.

They informed this at a press conference held at the school auditorium on Tuesday while IHSB Principal Roksana Zarin, Bangla Olympiad coordinator Kamrul Ahsan, school teachers - Imam Hossain, Abul Khair Abdullah, Abul Kalam Azad, Abul Kashem, Mizanur Rahman, and others were present.

Organisers said the contestants will participate in various age-based categories in essay writing, recitation, dance, singing, drawing, quizzes and public speaking while the country's eminent educationists, writers and artists will be present as the advisors and judges of this competition.

The director general of Bangla Academy, eminent writer and educationist Dr. Mohammad Azam, has agreed to be present at the award ceremony of the Bangla Olympiad, they added.

Principal Roksana Zarin said that her school is playing an important role in practicing Bengali language and culture by organizing such a big competition for more than a decade. In the meantime, Bangla Olympiad has become a national competition for English schools.

"Not only national, I would say, the Bangla Olympiad is also spreading to the international arena. Every year, along with local students, foreign students from various schools are also joining the Bangla Olympiad. Through this competition, the English medium and English version schools of the country pay tribute to the language martyrs during the language month,” he said.

Saying the Bangla Olympiad in February as the most significant event in the country, Olympiad coordinator Kamrul Ahsan said the Bangla Olympiad, which has been organized for more than a decade, has changed the lives and perspectives of the English medium students of the country.

“The fear and disgust they had towards Bengali language and culture has been largely removed through the Bangla Olympiad. Now the big schools of the country wait for our Bangla Olympiad all year round. Winning the Bangla Olympiad is considered an achievement of great honor for English medium schools.

"We believe that many of the participants in our competition will grow up to be great writers, great artists and will brighten the image of the country at home and abroad. This time the participation of students is greater in number and spontaneous than before," he said.

Online registration for the Bangla Olympiad has started from December 1, 2024 while schools can register their students online from the Banglaolympiad.org website until February 15.

Competitions will be held in 7 categories - essay, recitation, music, drawing, impromptu speech, dance and Bangla quiz. This year, each student will get the opportunity to compete in two categories through one registration.

International Hope School Bangladesh was established in The 14th Inter-School Bangla Olympiad which is being held in the month of language.