Indonesia National Science Olympiad Explained

The OSN (Olimpiade Sains Nasional), previously KSN (Indonesian: Kompetisi Sains Nasional) is a science competition for Indonesian students held by the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture. This competition consists of a few competitions for elementary school (SD) students, junior high school (SMP) students, and senior high school (SMA) students.

The competition puts students from the thirty-four provinces of Indonesia, and winners of the competition are further selected to represent Indonesia in their respective subjects' International Science Olympiad.[1] In addition, Indonesian public universities are required to accept medal-winners of the competition into their undergraduate programmes.[2]

KSN was initiated in 2002 when Indonesia first became host of the International Physics Olympiad. The first ever national-stage competition was held in Yogyakarta, and in 2003 it was held in Balikpapan with improved rules and procedures.[3]

In 2020, as the new Minister of Education Nadiem Makarim takes office, a brand new governmental agency was created which was called ‘Pusat Prestasi Nasional’ (National Achievement Center) to hold this olympiad. Due to Indonesia's 2032 Olympic bid, all competitions using ‘Olympiad’ in their names are changed into ‘Competition’. Therefore, this competition is called National Science Competition (Kompetisi Sains Nasional).

Subjects

The competition is divided into 3 levels:

  1. Elementary School (Sekolah Dasar, SD)
    Mathematics, Natural sciences (IPA)
  2. Junior High School (Sekolah Menengah Pertama, SMP)
    Mathematics, Natural sciences, Social sciences (IPS)
  3. Senior High School (Sekolah Menengah Atas, SMA)
    Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Computer science, Earth science, Astronomy, Geography, Economy

Selection process

In general, the overall competition is divided into four stages:[4]

  1. School stage
    Schools may select representatives to the olympiad in any desired manner - no fixed rules apply to individual schools.
  2. Regency stage (Olimpiade Sains Kabupaten)
    Students selected to represent their schools are sent to a centralized location in their regency/city where they take a test with other students from the same area. The set of questions are composed by the central body i.e. the Ministry. No centrally-imposed quota for participant count exists for joining this stage, although most local organizers limit the number of participants from individual schools.
    In several provinces, particularly ones in Java such as Jakarta and Central Java, there may be further pre-provincial stage selections.
  3. Province stage (Olimpiade Sains Provinsi)
    Regardless of the pre-provincial stage selections, a single province are allowed to represent themselves by up to three times the number of province's regencies in terms of student count, with a minimum limit of a single student per regency. The aforementioned students sit in a single exam which is held simultaneously across the country.
    Individual schools are limited to sending 3 students to this exam.
  4. National stage
    A minimum of 1 student per province and generally less than 100 students nationally per subject come together and sit exams, generally one theoretical and one experimental, and winners are selected.
    Individual awards include Absolute Winner (First place), Best Theory and Best Experiment (highest scores in theoretical and experimental exams respectively), along with gold (ranks 1–5), silver (ranks 6-15), and bronze (ranks 16–30) medals.

In 2016, over 320,000 students[5] participated in the Olimpiade Sains Kabupaten across Indonesia, with 1,579 eventually making it into the national phase.[6] In comparison, 420 medals were given out in 2017.

Events

As of 2018, only two provinces have ever won the competition: DKI Jakarta and Central Java. Both provinces are commonly seen in the competition as dominant participants, oftentimes sending the largest delegations of students.

Year Location(s) Winner
2002 Central Java[7]
2003 Central Java
2004 DKI Jakarta
2005 DKI Jakarta
2006 Central Java
2007 Central Java
2008 Central Java
2009 DKI Jakarta
2010 DKI Jakarta
2011 Central Java
2012 Central Java
2013 Central Java
2014 SD: Denpasar
SMP: Padang
SMA: Mataram
DKI Jakarta
2015 SMP: Palu
SD & SMA: Yogyakarta
Central Java
2016 Central Java
2017 DKI Jakarta[8]
2018 DKI Jakarta[9]
2019ManadoDKI Jakarta[10]
2020Bangka BelitungEast Java[11]
In 2020, during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the National Achievement Center (Pusat Prestasi Nasional) instructs that the 2020 edition of this competition is going to be held online.

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Suryowati. Estu. 1.280 Siswa Bersaing di Olimpiade Sains Nasional 2017 - Kompas.com. 21 August 2017. KOMPAS.com. Kompas. 3 July 2017. Indonesian.
  2. News: Kemendikbud wajibkan PTN terima juara OSN tanpa tes. 21 August 2017. SINDOnews.com. Sindonews. 4 September 2012. Indonesian.
  3. News: OSN dari Masa ke Masa. 21 August 2017. Republika. 5 August 2009. Indonesian.
  4. Web site: Panduan Seleksi Olimpiade Sains Tahun 2016. Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture. 21 August 2017. Indonesian.
  5. News: Oebaidillah. Syarif. Menuju OSN, Olimpiade Sains Kabupaten dan Kota Digelar. 21 August 2017. Media Indonesia. 18 February 2016. Indonesian.
  6. News: Ribuan Siswa Rebutan Medali OSN 2016. 21 August 2017. Berita Pagi. 17 May 2016. Indonesian.
  7. Web site: Apresiasi 2016 . ditpsmp.kemdikbud.go.id . Ministry of Education and Culture.
  8. News: Ayu. Rina. Selamat! DKI Jakarta Juara Umum OSN 2017. 21 August 2017. Tribunnews. 9 July 2017. Indonesian.
  9. News: DKI Jakarta Juara Umum Olimpiade Sains Nasional 2018 . 7 July 2018 . Republika Online . 7 July 2018 . id.
  10. Web site: BeritaSatu.com. DKI Jakarta Juara Umum OSN SMA. 2020-08-01. beritasatu.com. id.
  11. Web site: Fahlevi. Fahdi. 6 November 2020. Jawa Timur Juara Umum Kompetisi Sains Nasional 2020. 18 April 2021. Tribunnews. id.