Team Viet Nam bagged four medals, including one gold, at the 2015 International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI), which wrapped up on Sunday in Kazakhstan.

At the 27^th edition of the contest, which kicked off on July 26, all four Vietnamese contenders won medals, including one gold and three silvers, according to the Department of Education Testing and Accreditation under the Ministry of Education and Training.

The result led to the Vietnamese team ranking eighth among 84 participating countries and territories and topping other Southeast Asian countries.

This is the country’s best-ever performance since it sent its contestants to the Olympiad in 2000, according to the department.

The only gold medal went to Pham Van Hanh, a 12^th grader from the Ha Noi University of Science’s High School for Gifted Students, while his schoolmates, 11^th grader Phan Duc Nhat Minh and 12^th graders Nguyen Viet Dung and Nguyen Tien Trung Kien, bagged the three silvers.

The Ministry of Education and Training plans to organize a ceremony to welcome the team home and present certificates of merit to the members at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on Monday.

Vietnamese team members pose at the 2015 International Olympiad in Informatics. Tuoi Tre

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) initiated and sponsored the first International Olympiad in Informatics in Bulgaria in May 1989, according to the IOI’s website.

One of five international science Olympiads, the IOI is organized annually in and by one of the participating countries.

Each participating country generally sends a delegation of four contestants and two accompanying adults.

Students compete individually and try to maximize their score by solving a set of informatics problems during two competition days, the website added.

Cultural events are typically held on the remaining days of the contest.

The primary goal of the IOI, which is one of the most prestigious computer science competitions for school students the world over, is to arouse their interest in computing science and information technology.

The contest is also meant to bring together exceptionally gifted students from various countries and have them share scientific and cultural experiences, according to its website.

(Source: Tuoi Tre News)