The Ministry of Education and Training talks about the first prize in science and technology being accused of being similar to a foreign project

Recently, 12 projects were awarded the First Prize in the National Science and Technology Research Competition for high school students in the 2024-2025 school year in Ho Chi Minh City.

Notably, the Smart Waste classification system project integrating artificial intelligence and sound sensors of a group of students from Nguyen Sieu High School (Hung Yen) caused public opinion right after the competition ended.

The reason is that many sources say that this project is similar to a product by foreign expert Samuel Alexander previously published on the Hackaday.io community.

Hackaday.io is an online community for creators, engineers, programmers, and technology enthusiasts around the world. This is a platform where people can share their hardware and software projects, learn and connect with communities with similar interests.

Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper about this issue, Mr. Thai Van Tai - Director of the Department of Public Education, Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) - said that the ministry has received the information.

"This is an open competition, so the step of post-inspection and post-contest inspection is also a task of the organizing committee. And we are taking these steps. After the review process of the organizing committee, the judges and those related to the competition project, if any violations are discovered, the spirit of the Ministry of Education and Training and the competition organizing committee is to strictly handle them according to the competition regulations and other regulations of the industry" - this person shared.