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Competition Rules

PAIO 2025 Competition Rules

Archive of the rules and procedures that applied during the Pan African Informatics Olympiad 2025 online competition. The event has concluded.

PAIO 2025 has concluded

Registration and calls for participation are closed. The rules below are kept for reference.

Online Competition Format

The PAIO 2025 was conducted as an online competition with mandatory proctoring to ensure fair competition and academic integrity.

  • Contestants participated from their home countries under supervised proctoring

  • Real-time monitoring was in place throughout the competition

  • Technical support was available via designated communication channels

Competition Syllabus

The competition syllabus mirrors the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) Syllabus.

IOI Syllabus 2025
View PDF

This syllabus defines the scope of knowledge expected from contestants and serves as the foundation for all competition tasks.

Screen Recording Requirements

Mandatory Requirement

All participants are required to use FFmpeg to record their screen throughout the entire competition period. We followed the IOI 2021 Screen Recording Procedures to ensure consistency and compliance.

IOI 2021 Screen Recording Procedures
Guide PDF

  • Recording had to begin before the competition started and continue until the submission deadline

  • All screen activity, including IDE usage and web browsing, must be captured

  • Recordings may be reviewed in case of suspected violations

Virtual Machine Usage

Compulsory Requirement

The use of a Virtual Machine (VM) was compulsory for all contestants during the competition. PAIO provided the virtual machine to ensure consistency across all participants.

  • Provides a controlled and standardized environment for all participants

  • Ensures security and prevents unauthorized access to external resources

  • More details were published regarding VM configuration and setup instructions

Tasks and Submissions

Source Program Requirements

  • The source program must be contained in one source file as specified in the task statement

  • Submissions must not perform explicit input and output operations

  • Data must only be exchanged through the interfaces specified in the task statement

  • Direct access to any file, including standard input or output, is forbidden (though writing to standard error is allowed)

Threading and Performance

  • Multiple threads are allowed in all programming languages

  • Running time is counted as the sum of running times of all threads

Subtasks and Limits

  • Each task were divided into several subtasks, each worth a portion of the total points

  • Time and memory limits were generous (typically double those required by the expected solution)

  • Memory limit includes executable code size, stack, heap, etc.

Task Materials

For each programming task, contestants can download a zip file containing:

  • Interface files

  • A sample grading program

  • A skeleton implementation of the required source file

Note: The sample grader provided on the workstation would not be the same as the official grader used by the grading system.

Practice Session

There was a 2-hour Practice Competition prior to the first competition day to familiarize all contestants with the grading system.

  • Practice tasks were published before the IOI

  • Contestants may bring printed solutions on paper only during the Practice Competition

  • This session helps contestants become familiar with the submission system and interface

Quarantine

Critical Requirement

To protect the confidentiality of the tasks, all direct and indirect contacts and communication between contestants and team leaders are prohibited during specific periods.

  • Quarantine begins when tasks are presented to GA members and ends at competition start

  • Contestants cannot communicate with GA members or anyone who knows the tasks

  • GA members cannot communicate task-related information to unauthorized persons

  • Violation may result in disqualification of contestants or entire delegations

Competition Equipment and Environment

To be determined: Detailed equipment specifications and environment setup were provided before the competition.

Task Statements

Each contestant had online access to the official English version of tasks and all task translations in electronic format (PDF).

  • Primary language is English

  • Translations available in various African languages where possible

  • All statements provided in PDF format through the competition platform

Allowed Supplies

In the competition room, blank paper, writing tools, snacks and water should be provided by the proctor. Contestants may bring the following items:

Personal Items

  • Clothing

  • Reasonable jewelry

  • Small mascots

  • Medicine and medical equipment

Equipment & Tools

  • Writing utensils

  • Keyboards (without wireless/calculation/programmable functions)

  • Mouse (without wireless/calculation functions) and mouse pads

  • English dictionaries

  • Snacks, earplugs and earmuffs

Important: All items must not transmit or store any data in electronic or printed format (other than their designed purpose).

Assistance and Clarification

Clarification Requests

During the competition, contestants may ask questions concerning competition tasks, rules and/or grading through the grading system.

  • Submit clarification requests in English or your preferred language

  • If unable to type required characters, write on paper and inform the proctor

  • Continue working while waiting for answers

Question Guidelines

  • Phrase questions so that a yes/no answer will have clear meaning

  • Avoid negative questions like "Isn't it true that...?"

  • Use positive questions of the form "Is it true that...?"

Possible Responses

"YES" / "NO"

Direct answers

"ANSWERED IN TASK DESCRIPTION"

Information is already provided

"INVALID QUESTION"

Rephrase needed

"NO COMMENT"

Information cannot be given

Assistance Requests

Questions not concerning competition tasks, rules and/or grading are considered Assistance Requests and must be made via the proctor.

  • Do not leave your seat until allowed to do so

  • Never attempt to fix computer or network problems yourself

  • Always ask for assistance through your proctor

Cheating

Zero Tolerance Policy

Contestants must use only the workstation and account assigned to them on each competition day. All of the following actions are considered cheating and may result in disqualification:

Prohibited Actions

  • Submitting illegal programs or attempting to tamper with or compromise the grading system

  • Attempting to gain access to root or any account other than the one assigned to you

  • Attempting to store information in any part of the file system other than the home directory or /tmp directory

  • Touching any workstation other than the one assigned to you

  • Attempting to access any machine on the network or Internet, other than to access the contest system for usual purposes (e.g., submitting tasks, viewing results, downloading sample data, submitting clarification requests), calling for support staff, and printing documents

  • Even running a single "ping" command is strictly prohibited and may lead to disqualification

  • Attempting to reboot or alter the boot sequence of any workstation

  • Communicating with other people during the competition, other than support staff and/or Scientific/Technical Committee members

  • Reverse engineering test data to solve problems in highly test-data-dependent manners. This includes using the feedback system to extract test data and building solutions adapted to specific test cases that would solve significantly fewer test cases correctly if the test data were replaced by an equivalent set

Warning

Violation of any of these rules is considered cheating and may result in immediate disqualification from the competition.