Belarus

Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus, 9 Sovetskaya St., Minsk 220010, Minsk, Belarus.

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Belarusian National Biology Olympiad is organized by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus.

The National Biology Olympiad consists of four rounds in each academic year.

The first stage is the educational establishment level which takes place in October, the second stage is the district (city) level (takes place from November 25th to first part of December), the third stage is the regional competition (in January), the fourth stage is the final national round (in March).

Traditionally, the final round is hosted by the Belarusian State University.

At the first stage of the National Biology Olympiad all interested students of educational institutions, implementing educational programs of general secondary education, can participate. In the 2020/2021 academic year, 28974 students of the IX-XI grades took part in the first stage of the National Biology Olympiad.

At the Biology Olympiad, in all rounds, various types of tasks are used among the proposed participants, including multiple choice, essays and others. Tests for all rounds of Biology Olympiad is produced by group of Academic specialists in different fields of biological science. Students take the test of round 1-2 at school, and round 3-4 - at the University.

For the theoretical and practical exam students attend a 14-day camp taking place in Minsk before the IBO where they learn from Academic specialists in different fields of biology. Students are provided with handouts, they perform lab experiments, analyse results, etc.

High school textbooks, university textbooks.

Selection of model questions available online; tests (former IBOs and NBOs) online.

Certificates awarded to Gold, Silver and Bronze.

The contingent of participants in the final (fourth) stage of the National Olympiad is represented by teams from each region and the city of Minsk. The team from each region and the city of Minsk is represented by 15 winners of the third stage (5 students of IX, X and XI classes). The winners of the final stage of the republican and international Olympiad of the previous year - the winners of the third stage of the republican Olympiad of the current academic year, who were not included in the team, can be included in the team of each region and the city of Minsk of the established quota.

Candidates for the team of the Republic of Belarus for participation in the International Biological Olympiad are selected from among the winners of the final stage of the National Biology Olympiad in the year of its holding.

September to June.

Biology in institutions of general secondary education is studied starting from the grade VI  for 6 years (in the grade VI  1 hour a week, in the grades VII-XI 2 hours a week). Students in grades X-XI can study the subject "Biology" at an advanced level (3 hours a week). In addition, students of general secondary education institutions have the opportunity to use optional biological activities.

Social media and mailing lists of former participating schools.

There are sometimes stories published in newspapers and some on TV about the Olympiad.