Olympiad exams 2021: A broad overview
The education system of India incorporates assessments like the Olympiad examinations at regular intervals to understand the academic standing of students in terms of their performance in various subjects. It is a large-scale platform to widen the horizon of students by offering them an opportunity to compete among the best of each subject. Olympiad is a multi-dimensional approach to enhance students’ STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) skills by assessing their analysis, critical, and communication skills. These exams also expose students to various levels of challenges to help them get a grip over their skills. Here is a broad overview of the Olympiad exams that are conducted in our country.
Olympiad conducting bodies in India
Multiple organizations across the country are in charge of conducting the Olympiad exams based on school curriculum and boards like CBSE, ICSE, and state boards. These are programmes to test students’ reasoning, comprehension, and analytical skills across the same educational level. Here’s a list of well-known bodies that conduct Olympiads in our country.
- Indian Talent Olympiad: It is a popular platform conducting Science, Mathematics, English, General Knowledge, Drawing, and Essay Olympiads.
- Science Olympiad Foundation (SOF): It is a non-profit organization that promotes a scientific temperament among students for their future endeavours. The body organizes several exams, National Science Olympiad, International Mathematics Olympiad, International English Olympiad being among the most famous ones.
- Silver Zone Foundation: It is an expert body conducting educational Olympiads on the international and national levels for students of classes 1 to 12 in science, mathematics, computer education, English language skills, and general knowledge.
- Eduheal Foundation: Eduheal is a registered international NGO conducting online and offline Olympiad examinations reaching out to 6,000 schools annually. Their most famous exams include the National Interactive Olympiad for Mathematics and Science and the International English Olympiad.
Important dates to remember for the 2021 exam calendar
The registration for various Olympiads can be done online and offline. Owing to the Covid-19 situation the exams will be conducted online through official exam portals along with the registration. Here are the starting dates for various Olympiad bodies:
- SOF: 16th & 17th October 2021
- Silver Zone: 28th October, 2021
- Eduheal Foundation: 19th, 20th December 2021
- Indian Talent Olympiad: 6th December, 2021
Why students should participate in Olympiads
These exams are great learning platforms to identify and develop certain skills in students while prepping them up for national and state-level competitive exams in the future.
- Olympiads are formulated in a way to assess the conceptual understanding of a student’s academic knowledge that may be left out in regular school exams.
- They test aptitude, capability, and knowledge of a particular subject apart from providing students with national and international exposure.
- Olympiads inspire students to strive for knowledge and ignite a sense of competition in them.
- These competitive exams help improve in-class performance and boost the confidence of students.
- Olympiads give students the chance to gain additional knowledge on a wide variety of subjects and sharpen their skills further.
- Helps enhance 21st-century skills like creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking.