Hundreds of students of government schools will be trained to take part in the international Olympiads for science and mathematics. Two competitions — modelled on the international Olympiad — will be held at every school across the State on August 31.
The competitions — an initiative of the State government under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) — will be held at block, district and State levels, too.
State SSA Project Director Subodh Yadav said the idea of holding these competitions was to prepare students for competitive examinations. “These students were deprived of participation in Olympiads… The initiative helps in generating interest about science and mathematics,” Mr. Yadav told The Hindu.
To start with, science and mathematics competitions will be held for students from classes 6 and 9. “We will see results of this and extend it to students of other classes,” Mr. Yadav said. Assistance of subject experts was taken to prepare the syllabus and model question papers for the competition.
Questions for class 6 students will be based on what they have studied up to class 5. Similarly, the questions for class 9 students will be based on what they have studied up to class 8.
One-hour test
Students will have to answer 50 multiple choice questions in one hour. Question paper for the school-level competition will be prepared at the school, while the block, district and State levels examination papers will be prepared at the State SSA office.
Answers in the block, district and State levels examinations will be on OMR sheets.
As many as 30,000 students Dakshina Kannada will be taking part in the school-level Olympiad. “Teachers in the district have given an orientation in conducting the competition,” said Dakshina Kannada District SSA Project Coordinator N. Shivaprakash.
All students taking part in the competitions will get certificates. Those who make it to the State-level will get certificates and Aakash tablets.
Five per cent of top scorers at the school-level will take part in the block-level examination to be held on September 21. “We have sought additional grants for conducting the event,” Mr. Yadav said.
