Over 80 schools eager to take part in Times, Shabiba quiz

Muscat: More than 80 schools in Oman have been approached to participate in the Times of Oman and Al Shabiba inter-school quizzes, that are scheduled to be held in November.

The English-language Times of Oman inter-school quiz will run parallel to its Arabic counterpart, Al Shabiba’s Musabakat Bayn Madaris, which will be the first-of-its-kind in the Sultanate. Both events are being organised by Orbit Events, with the event organisers having partnered with Muscat Media Group – the parent company of both publications – for this event.

“The last time this quiz took place, 21 schools had participated overall which included about 4,000 students who appeared for the preliminary rounds of the quiz,” said Ramesh Gopalan, Orbit Events CEO.

“This year, we have reached out to 81 schools for both the English and Arabic quizzes. The number of schools and students taking part in the prelims is yet not clear, but from there, only a select number of students will go through to the mega-prelims, and from there, an even smaller number of students will make it through to the finals.”

Gopalan hoped that academically-inclined students, who wanted to test their knowledge, will keenly participate in this event, and will invite others to do so as well.

“What is important is how many students sign up because of an interest in the Times of Oman and Shabiba quiz,” he explained.

“I am sure that if 4,000 students turned up from 21 schools, then by approaching 81 schools, we will surely get more responses. So far about 30 or 40 have responded positively so far and we are in the process of reaching out to those who have not responded to our original communications that was sent to them,” Gopalan added.

Gopalan said, “We began our procedures of working on this in February 2019. Originally, it was set to happen in April, but we were told that government approvals would require more time in such cases, so we pushed it to November.”

“We have a dedicated team working on this. We have an entire team that is reaching out to schools, reaching out to the right people, to the stakeholders, and to the sponsors. Registrations have already begun. They are happening online as well.”

Students that wish to register for the English version of the quiz can do so on www.orbit-events.com/TimesQ, while those who want to participate in the Arabic event need to visit http://www.orbit-events.com/TimesQ

“Unlike earlier years, where teams had been charged one or two Rials for participation, this time, we are not even taking a hundred baisa from them,” said Gopalan. “Our team is in person going to these schools to talk to them and get them to participate. The registrations are currently ongoing and they will close on 7 November, so we want to get as many schools in as possible. There is an online link, and when people go to this link, they can upload all of their and their school details as required. There is also a list of FAQs and they will most likely get the responses to their queries.”

Those who are seeking to sponsor the event can call either 92209181 or 99626072, and can email [email protected]. Alternatively, those who have queries about the English quiz can call 95046037, or 92278160. Concerns regarding the Arabic event can be directed to 91100200.

“Orbit Events is playing a pivotal role in the organisation of the event in terms of making it happen, right from the approval processes, organisation, management, financial models, thinking and preparation,” said Gopalan. “We will be conducting the event on behalf of Times of Oman – they are the intellectual property owners of this event.”