How supporting STEM can help the country’s Shell Eco-Marathon campaign
The 2023 Shell Eco-marathon recently drew to a close, with 76 teams from 13 different countries in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East Region competing for a variety of categories. The event was held at the Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit in the beautiful island of Lombok, situated at the southwest of Indonesia.
The five-day event from July 4-9 saw teams arrive, prepare, assemble their vehicles, pass technical inspection, and compete. Even before the race began, drama was already apparent as teams struggle with limited time. Having been an off-track judge at a previous Eco-marathon event and covering it in Singapore years prior, you see the spirit of both competition and camaraderie as competing teams go out of their way to provide assistance to rivals who are experiencing problems and issues. This cooperation is ultimately the magic, for me, at least, of the Shell Eco-marathon. If only our world leaders acted this way, providing assistance to those in need and allow for the best, fair fight on track is the only way for humanity to progress forward.
It is also a test of one’s wits. A team’s resourcefulness and ability to adapt and improvise builds strength of character for these young men and women working towards a clear objective, and they are left to their own devices with no external help from family and friends.
It is also in this setting that we see the socio-economic disparity of each country. Countries like Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, and even Thailand, could pass for a full-fledged well-funded professional effort with all the resources, tools and equipment to compete and succeed. Their respective institutions, together with their private sector through grants and partnerships, plus their government, support them in the best way possible.
Then, there are other teams who make do with ingenious solutions to overcome a lack of support, resources or technical proficiency such as this year’s UPHSD Altas Valor and the PUP Hygears Team. The disparity in resources and support is sad because the teams who represent us are, I daresay just as intelligent and technically proficient as the teams from other countries. I am sure the school throws their support, but in the face of true global world class competition, the support they receive just isn’t enough. Our local teams need support (read: funding and facilities) from government and local private sector science and technology firms to level up and truly bring our teams at par with the best in the region.
Sadly, I feel this lack of support in our teams is due to a lack of focus on the STEM subjects in school: sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics. If conglomerates like San Miguel Corporation and tycoons like Manny V. Pangilinan can support our national basketball team and other sports teams to become competitive, surely, these same companies can also support our future engineers, scientists and mathematicians. This lack of support and focus on STEM also leads to brain drain as we end up losing the nation’s best minds to foreign countries who offer them a better life.
Sports is ok, it’s good to imbibe our youth with an attitude for a healthy body. But as a whole, our nation needs to invest equal time, energy, effort and resources to our future scientists, engineers and mathematicians, improving the level of intelligence and growing our knowledge base. We need both a balanced and healthy body and mind. And only then can we be truly globally competitive.
Let’s hope, too, that in the coming years, more Philippine institutions, together with the government, through agencies like the DOST, DOE, and TESDA, and maybe even PAGCOR, support and field teams to participate in the Shell Eco-marathon and show to our neighbors in Asia that we are just as capable as everyone else is.
