Lithuania

Ministry of Education, Science and Sports of the Republic of Lithuania

www.smm.lt/web/en/

Lithuanian centre of non-formal youth education(further in the text - Centre) is the main organizer of the NBO. There are two national rounds, the 1st at the beginning of January and the 2nd in March. The final round is organized in a different place of the country each year and is usually a school or a university.

Approximately 2000 students participate in the first round at the national level.

Round 1 consists of the multiple choice and essay type questions. Round 2 consists of two parts - theory and practical. The theory part consists of true/false, multiple choice and essay type questions, corresponding in percentage to the subject areas based on the IBO guidelines. Practical part usually consists of 4 practical tasks, corresponding to those of the IBO practicals of a particular year. The questions for round 1 and round 2 are produced by a group of experts and students that are hired by the Centre. The tests of round 1 are taken in dedicated schools in every municipality of the country and round 2 is organized in different place (school or university) every year.

Students prepare individually for the NBO or their teachers help to prepare, but it is hard to put an estimate on exact time spent. After a final round of NBO, ~15 students from grades 10-12, who performed best, are invited to participate in "preparation camps" and to try to become the "lucky four", who will represent the country in IBO. During a regular year there are 2 or three such preparation and selection camps, each lasting 2-3 days. At the last day of those camps 4 finalists for IBO are selected.

Most of the regular participants use high school textbooks or any other information available to prepare for the NBO. Moreover, former participants of the NBO and IBO have an informal organization, that makes a series of learning sessions for selected participants of NBO, where the more experienced help the younger to learn, using Campbell Biology book as basis.

Best students of each age group (9-12 grades) receive medals and certificates or just certificates of merit. Medals of NBO give additional points entering the university. Sometimes there are sponsors that provide gifts in a form of science books or some equipment. At the end of every year Ministry of Education, Science and Sports in cooperation with the President of the Republic of Lithuania or the Government of the Republic of Lithuania hold an event for the participants of different International Olympiads, their teachers and team supervisors. Sponsors provide some gifts, sometimes such as iPads or even electrical scooters.

Students of the 9-12 grades (~14-19 years old) can participate in the NBO.

School year starts in September and ends in June.

Main information on NBO is provided on the website of the Centre and is also disseminated via emails through the networks of biology teachers.

Lithuanian centre of non-formal youth education

• 2021: 2171 students from 372 schools (54% of eligible schools)
• 2020: 2202 students from 407 schools (60% of eligible schools)
• 2019: 2353 students from 428 schools (63% of eligible schools)
• 2018: 2255 students from 437 schools (64% of eligible schools)
• 2017: 2202 students from 483 schools (65% of eligible schools)

Number of schools is decreasing during the last years and actual percentage of represented schools was probably slightly lower in 2017-2019 than indicated here.

Local newspapers, news websites and TV usually cover NBO. They also cover the results of the IBO, especially if a student from their region participated or got a medal. National news websites usually provide news about the results of the participation at the IBO.