While senior pupils from 110 countries are preparing for the International Math Olympiad to be held in Astana on July 6, Kazakhstan’s juniors are also not wasting their time. The best specialists in exact science from 2^nd to the 4^th forms are in Almaty for a 3-day math tournament called “Bastau”.

Tildash Bituova, Head of “Daryn” Republic Scientific and Practical centre:
- Our junior pupils are 7thin the world in Math. Independent experts from «ТIMC» organization revealed this fact after touring our schools.

They are exactly those children who are expected to be seen at “adult” tournaments, i.e. for senior form pupils. It is not yet known which country they will go to test their knowledge. However, this year as well as the Olympiad’s flag-relay totally belongs to Kazakhstan; at previous competitions in Bremen our children caused неподдельное adornment of the judges.  

Tildash Bituova, Head of “Daryn” Republic Scientific and Practical centre:
- Eight gold medals were received last year. Our children haven’t returned from the Olympiads without an award recently.
It’s been a tradition that pupils from all over the world take part in competitions like this one starting from 6-8 forms. But children, who achieve success at the age of 6 or even 5, are registered in a special listing called «The future of the nation». Special organizations ‘watch’ potential leaders of science from the early age for a reason.

Aliza Shaikh, Deputy General Director of “Investment attractive persons of Kazakhstan” project:
- This list registers the winners of republic and international Olympiads, then this data goes to the President’s administration, government, international corporations. This is done with the purpose that these organizations pay their attention to such children, hire best teachers, offer scholarships …

Today these kids do not fully understand the importance of such competitions. For them it’s more a game than a real minds contest. But today the teachers already have their big hopes for them.

Yulia Zolkina, Yalkunjan Ashimjanov, “Almaty” Television Channel.