Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (NR)  

Udupi, Mar 21: Twenty-five students of NTSE training (VIVEKA) of MICE, Udupi are among the 26 students selected from the district in the National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) conducted by the Department of State Education Research and Training (DSERT) on November 18, 2007 for the students of standard VIII and X, stated a press release.  

DSERT selects 300 students in each category (VIII and X) and these students are eligible to write the II stage of the exam which will be conducted on Sunday the 11th May 2008 by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).   

Among the students who answered NTSE, from Mangalore centre 24 have qualified and among them 14 were trained at MICE-Mangalore. So a total of 39 students (25 Udupi + 14 Mangalore) of MICE-NTSE training program have qualified in the state level examination.     

Moreover the release goes on to add, that the NCERT awards 1000 scholarships  to talented students through its national talent search scheme and then nurtures the talent by way of providing financial assistance in the form of monthly scholarship. The awardees continue to receive the scholarships up to PhD level for pursuing their education, added the release.     

Further the release informs presently 12 students batch 2006 and 2007 trained at MICE-Udupi are National Talent Scholars and are receiving Rs 500 per month from NCERT and will continue to do so until their Ph.D. 30 students trained at MICE-Udupi and Mangalore who were selected at state-level but were not selected at national-level will/have receive (d) Rs 4000 (Rs 2000 for 2 years) by the state government.

According to the release there are two stages of NTSE:  

1st stage: State-level Examination: Students studying in class VIII will be eligible to appear at the State Level Test from the State in which the institution is located. The State government pays a scholarship amount of Rs 2000 per year for 2 years for the students selected only in the first stage.  

2nd stage: National-level Examination:  In these exams 4000 students selected in the first stage and they are eligible to write this exam conducted by NCERT in May. Those selected are called National Talent Scholars and will receive a scholarship of Rs 500 per month until PhD.