Over 40K students to appear for first layer of Vidyasagar State Science Olympiad

Kolkata: Over 40,000 Class IX students across the state are set to appear for the first layer of the Vidyasagar State Science Olympiad, scheduled for June 15 from noon to 3 pm. The examination will be held at centres across every block of the state.

According to the Jagadis Bose National Science Talent Search (JBNSTS), which conducts the Olympiad, a total of 40,751 students from 8,462 schools have registered this year. This is the highest participation since the programme’s launch in 2021. The Olympiad, a joint initiative by JBNSTS and the state school Education department, was introduced to mark the bicentenary of social reformer Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar. The programme aims to identify and nurture scientific talent among Class IX students from government, government-aided and government-recognised schools under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE).

The Olympiad follows a three-tier structure. The first layer (Intra-Unit Competition) involves the top five Class IX students from each school, nominated on the basis of their academic performance in the Class VIII final examination. The top three performers at this level will receive a book grant of Rs 1,000. The second layer (Intra-District Competition) will comprise the top 10 per cent of first-layer candidates from each district, with the top 20 per cent at this level eligible for a Rs 2,000 book grant.

In the final phase (Intra-State Competition), the top 20 per cent of each district’s second-layer qualifiers will compete. The top 100 students in this round will receive a monthly scholarship of Rs 1,000 and an annual book grant of Rs 2,500 for two years, in addition to mentoring workshops to prepare them for national-level examinations.

The exam syllabus is aligned with the WBBSE curriculum and covers Physical Sciences, Life Sciences and Mathematics. Designed to assess students’ scientific mindsets, the questions go beyond textbook learning, encouraging critical and analytical thinking.