Bangladesh has ranked number one among 174 participating countries over the last 5 weeks at FIRST Global Challenge (FGC), an international robotics competition, held annually for high school students.

Team Bangladesh has to hold on to the position for five more weeks to become the winner of FGC 2020.

FGC is the largest robotics competition for high schoolers. It aims to inspire the youth of the world to pursue STEM education and facilitate learning. Every year, youths from around the world come together to FGC to express their ignited passion for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Last year in Dubai, Bangladesh ranked number seven in the competition.

This year however, due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, the competition is being held online.

"Team Bangladesh has maintained a steady 1st ranking for the past 5 weeks as of the 2nd of September, 2020," Shams Jaber, mentor, Team Bangladesh, said in a release.

FIRST Global Challenge is often referred to as the high school equivalent to the robot Olympics, with participation from almost all the countries of the world.

Bangladesh has been participating in the FIRST Global Challenge since its inception in 2017, reads the release.

Team Bangladesh has been on a journey to the top ranks of the challenge, from being in the first hundreds to ranking 7th among 190 countries in the 2019 FIRST Global Challenge, hosted in Dubai.

Every year, young people passionate about STEM are given a challenge that is intended to solve some of the greatest challenges the earth and its people face, including the 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering, the release added.

In 2019, the challenge was Ocean Opportunities, to highlight the threat that pollution brings to the earth's oceans. Team Bangladesh came out of the tournament as quarter-finalists.

This year, Team Bangladesh comprises of Sujoy Mahmud, 17, from Mangrove School; Razeen Ali, 18, from Sir John Wilson School; Mahi Zarif, 16, from International Hope School; Shahrear Shemanto, 16, from DPS STS; Abrar Jawad, 15, from Bangladesh International School and College; Aymaan Rahman, 15, from Bangladesh International School and College; Bianca Hassan, 19, from Dhanmondi Tutorial; Zahraa Chowdhury, 14, from Sunbeams; Areebah Anwar, 14, from South Breeze; and Fairooz Hafiz Farin, 18, from Mastermind with chief mentor Shams Jaber, technical mentor Shoaib Mirza and Fardin Ananta as the assistant mentor.

The theme for 2020 is connecting communities. Therefore, the challenges aim to integrate social, cultural elements with the creativity and innovation behind STEM, making it more comprehensive.