PRIMARY SCHOOLS appear to be leading the way in science. So much so that judges at this year's Sci-Tech Expo found some of their exhibits more outstanding than those from the secondary and tertiary level.

Chief judge Tyrone King said on Saturday after the closing ceremony that the primary schools were getting stronger, and the quality this year was extremely high.

King singled out Erdiston Special Annex and St Stephen's Nursery School, where the oldest participant was four years old, for mention.

Ten-year-old Richard Estwick, who was in winners' row for his Science In Agriculture-Genetics In Agriculture was also praised, since he entered the competition alone because his school did not.

King also advised the exhibitors to register their intellectual property.

"If you are going to present ground-breaking or otherwise new and innovative technology or present a new concept . . . make sure that you at least register it at the Intellectual Property Office. You do not know who is passing through the expo and sometimes in an effort to impress as an idealistic teenager or pre-teen you give out so much information about something that is so commercially viable that a person who did not dream or would not have dreamt about that idea in the next 50 years, if they have monetary wherewithal, can take that idea even before you finish school, complete the product and take full credit for it," he said.

Director of the National Council on Science and Technology, Lennox Chandler, said that while the expo was competing with a number of activities over the Easter weekend, he had some other concerns about the attitude toward science and technology as Barbadians were not taking it as seriously as they should.

He also called for a permanent home for science so that the exhibits from the 120 booths did not have to be dismantled.

Apart from the schools, the participants were drawn from the public sector, private sector and non-governmental organisations. It was sponsored by Peter Moore's Trust, BRC West Indies Limited and Rotherley Construction.

The event also had regional participation through NIHERST, the sister science organisation in Trinidad and Tobago, home of science showman Olwyn Gordon, whose demonstration on how gravity and friction work captivated the audience at the closing ceremony.

There was also a cultural multimedia presentation by the Douglas Foundation that dealt with science.