Filipino students harvesting awards in international competitions in science and mathematics increased by almost 50 percent this year as the Department of Science and Technology confers its annual Youth Excellence in Science (YES) Award.

Recipients of the YES Award increased to 303 this year from 2008's 215 students with most of the awardees coming from private schools.

Student awardees coming from private schools gobbled up 75 percent with 226 pupils netting international awards abroad while 77 came from public schools.

Most of the awardees also came from Metro Manila, 192 of them, while the rest came from the regions.

In simple ceremonies held at the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, DOST Secretary Estrella Alabastro expressed her congratulations to the recipients of the YES Award, prodding them to enhance their talents by venturing into a career of science and technology when they reach college and in the future.

“More than the increasing number of Filipino international achievers in science and mathematics, we see today an overflowing deluge of hope for the Philippines . Our generation of scientists, mathematicians and engineers are slowly taking the backseat to give way for fresher faces, fresher ideas who could sustain the gains we have achieved in the science community,” she said.

Alabastro said the DOST is ready to help the student achievers to be a part of the science community through the scholarship programs her agency is providing.

“We look forward to the day that you shall be one of the 3,500 scholars that we shall be helping out in college. You shall be a very much welcome addition to our roster of scholars who after graduation have helped our country ferret out in the world of science and technology,” she said.

Dr. Ester B. Ogena, Director of the Science Education Institute, said the DOST is even more ready to support the students if they intend to advance their knowledge in science and technology and join the pool of researchers in the country.

“The Accelerated Science and Technology Human Resource Development and the Engineering Research and Development for Technology Programs aim to help improve the country's global competitiveness and capability to innovate through alternative approaches on HRD in S&T and to accelerate the production of high-level human resources needed for S&T activities particularly in the area of R&D,” she said.

The YES Award is a DOST institutional award for exemplary achievement of the youth in the fields of science and mathematics.

“The YES medal signifies DOST's high regard for excellence and competitiveness through the distinguished achievements of young Filipinos in international science and mathematics competitions,” Ogena said. (30)