Although most of the FYKOS activities have been international for over a decade, many foreign high-school physics enthusiasts have no information about them. Thanks to our partners at FABRIC, we were able to travel to Southeast Asia to meet with local teachers, educational institutions, and government officials to present FYKOS and develop cooperations for future involvement. Thanks to this expedition, we could learn more about education systems in this part of the world, which helped us support international students when participating in FYKOS activities. In 6 weeks, 9 people visited 7 places in India, Nepal, Singapore, and Vietnam. Here you can learn more about our experience.
We have visited Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, twice. The first part of our expedition had a goal to open relations with the Vietnamese people, the Czech and Slovak embassies, and the Ministry of Education. The second trip was focused on the promotion of FYKOS activities among high school and university students.
Our stop in Singapore was brief but no less enriching than Vietnam. Apart from visiting the embassy and discussing possible support for students from the region, we could visit one of the top Singaporean high schools. We were able to compare our school systems and the physics education, which gave us a better understanding of the motivation, background, and knowledge level of local students.
Thanks to the high interest in FYKOS activities and good support from the Nepali side (both official and non-government), we had a rich program planned for about two weeks. All three groups of our travelers met in Kathmandu and participated in prepared activities. We have visited more than a dozen schools, we had a meeting at the Ministry of Education, with companies oriented in education, and also business groups interested in supporting the participation of Nepali students in FYKOS activities.
With many Indian teams already participating in Physics Brawl Online and a few travelling to Prague for Fyziklani, we saw a huge potential in India for future collaboration. Therefore, 3 groups travelled to 4 Indian cities – New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Bengaluru. We again met with representatives of the Czech and Slovak embassies, representatives of education non-governmental organizations, and visited several high schools. We also had a meeting with a university physics student in New Delhi.