Terms and Conditions

These terms apply to every teacher who registers for, or takes part in, the S Chand–CENTA National Talent Search for Teachers of Secondary Science and Mathematics 2027 (“NTST-SSM” or the “Competition”). Registering, or ticking “I agree” during registration, means you accept them.

1.1 Organisers. The Competition is run jointly by:

• CENTA: Centre for Teacher Accreditation (CENTA) Private Limited. CENTA runs the website, registration, payments, the assessment, proctoring, results, scorecards and certificates.
• S Chand: S. Chand and Company Limited. S Chand provides and delivers the prizes and awards, and runs outreach and recognition events.

In these terms, “we”, “us” and “the Organisers” mean CENTA and S Chand together, except where a clause names one of them.

1.2 Other documents. These terms are read together with the NTST-SSM Privacy Policy (https://schand-ntst.centa.org/privacy) and, for anything they do not cover, CENTA’s general Terms of Use. If they conflict, these terms apply to the Competition.

1.3 Language. These terms are in English. If they are translated, the English version prevails.

3.1 You may take part if, on 15 February 2027, you:

1. are at least 18 years old;
2. are teaching Science (Physics, Chemistry or Biology) or Mathematics to Classes 9 or 10 at a school in India (government, government-aided, private or any other recognised school, and any board); and
3. have a valid email address and a mobile number that can receive WhatsApp messages.

3.2 Employees of CENTA and S Chand, and anyone involved in setting, reviewing or delivering the Examination, cannot take part. Neither can members of their immediate families.

3.3 We may ask you for proof that you are eligible at any time, including before awarding a prize. This could be a letter from your school or a school ID card. If you cannot give satisfactory proof within 7 days of our request, we may disqualify you without a refund.

3.4 Each teacher may register only once and in only one subject. If we find more than one registration for the same person, we may cancel all but the first paid registration. The extra fee is refunded under clause 5.5.

4.1 Registration window. Registration opens on 10 November 2026 and closes at 11:59 PM IST on 15 February 2027. A registration is complete only when payment succeeds and your Ticket is issued.

4.2 Individual Registration. You enter your details, verify your mobile number on WhatsApp, choose one subject and one Slot, and pay online. Your Ticket is sent to your registered email address.

4.3 Institutional Registration. A School Coordinator enters the details of each teacher, chooses each teacher’s subject and Slot, and pays for all of them. Each teacher’s Ticket is sent to that teacher’s email address, with a copy to the School Coordinator. If your school registers you:

• your school confirms it has told you and that you agree to be registered;
• you are still bound by these terms and must accept them before you start the Examination; and
• your scorecard will also be shared with your school (clause 10.2).

4.4 Your details must be accurate. Your name will appear on certificates exactly as you enter it. You are responsible for the accuracy of your details, including your email address and mobile number. We are not responsible for a Ticket or message you miss because these details are wrong. You may correct your name, email or school once by writing to us before 15 February 2027.

4.5 Your Ticket is personal. Do not share your Ticket or login details. Anything done using them is treated as done by you.

4.6 We may refuse or cancel a registration that is incomplete, false, duplicated, or made in breach of these terms.

5.1 Fee. The registration fee is ₹500 plus GST (currently 18%, so ₹590 in total) per teacher. The fee is the same for Individual and Institutional Registration. There are no bulk or group discounts.

5.2 Payment. You pay online through our payment partner. CENTA collects the fee and issues the GST invoice in the name you give at checkout. We do not see or store your card or UPI credentials. Payment gateway charges, if any, are shown before you pay.

5.3 Subject or Slot changes. You may change your subject or Slot once, free of charge, by writing to us before 11:59 PM IST on 15 February 2027. After that, no changes are possible.

5.4 Substitution (Institutional Registration only). Until 15 February 2027, a school may replace a registered teacher with another eligible teacher from the same school by writing to us. The fee carries over. Substitution is not available for Individual Registrations, and registrations cannot be sold or transferred to another person.

5.5 Refunds. The fee is non-refundable once your Ticket is issued, including if you withdraw, miss your Slot, or are disqualified. We will refund the full fee only if:

• you are charged twice for the same registration, or charged without a Ticket being issued (write to us within 30 days of payment);
• we refuse your registration under clause 4.6 for a reason that is not your fault; or
• we cancel the Competition, or move it to a date you cannot attend, under clause 13. In that case you may ask for a refund within 15 days of our notice.

Approved refunds are paid to the original payment method within 15 working days.

6.1 Format. The Examination has 50 multiple-choice questions to be answered in 2 hours:

The subject questions are aligned with the secondary-grade (Classes 9–10) curriculum and draw on S Chand’s textbooks in that subject. All questions are multiple-choice with one correct answer, and are in English only.

6.2 Your Slot. You take the Examination in the Slot on your Ticket, from 4:00 to 6:00 PM IST. Log in at least 15 minutes early to complete checks. You can start until 4:30 PM IST; after that, you cannot start the Examination. If you log in late, you will not get extra time. You cannot switch Slots on the day.

6.3 What you need. You are responsible for having:

• a laptop or desktop computer, or a smartphone, with a working front camera and microphone and the latest version of Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge (or Safari on Apple devices);
• a stable internet connection of at least 1 Mbps;
• a quiet, well-lit room where you are alone; and
• a valid government photo ID, if we ask for it during check-in.

We will email you a system check and a practice test at least 7 days before the Examination. Please use them. Problems you could have found with them are not grounds for a re-test.

6.4 Remote proctoring. By taking the Examination, you agree that we may, for the whole session:

• record video and audio from your camera and microphone;
• take photographs of you, and of your ID if requested;
• record your screen activity, browser events and device information; and
• use automated tools to flag possible misconduct, which a trained person then reviews.

No misconduct decision is made by an automated tool alone. How we handle this data is set out in the Privacy Policy.

6.5 Technical problems. If your session is interrupted, log back in straight away. Your answers save automatically and the timer keeps running. If the interruption was caused by a failure on our platform, and you report it to us during the Slot or within 2 hours after it, we will review the logs. Where we confirm the failure was ours, we may, at our discretion, extend your time, let you resume, or offer a re-test on a date we set. We are not responsible for problems with your own device, power supply or internet connection.

7.1 During the Examination you must not:

• let anyone else sit the Examination for you, or help anyone else;
• have another person in the room, or talk to anyone;
• use books, notes, other devices, websites, search engines, calculators (no question needs one) or AI tools such as chatbots;
• leave the camera view, cover the camera or microphone, or switch off proctoring;
• open other tabs or apps, use screen-sharing or remote-access software, or use a virtual machine; or
• copy, photograph, record or share any question, during or after the Examination.

7.2 What happens if we find misconduct. If our review of the proctoring record finds misconduct, we may cancel your result, withdraw any rank, certificate or prize (and ask you to return it), and bar you from future CENTA competitions. For Institutional Registrations, we may also tell your school. No fee is refunded.

7.3 Your right to respond. Before we disqualify you, we will tell you what was flagged and give you 7 days to explain in writing. Our decision after considering your reply is final.

8.1 Scoring. CENTA scores every answer script. Each correct answer earns 1 mark. There is no negative marking for wrong or unanswered questions. We may remove a question that turns out to be faulty and rescore everyone in that subject.

8.2 Subject Rank. Candidates are ranked within their subject by total score.

8.3 National Rank. The four subject papers are different, so to rank Candidates across subjects we convert raw scores into a standardised score that adjusts for differences in difficulty between subjects and Slots. CENTA decides the method, applies it the same way to everyone, and publishes a short explanation with the results.

8.4 Ties. Ties are broken in this order:

1. higher score in Subject Expertise;
2. higher score in Pedagogical Content Knowledge;
3. less total time taken to submit.

If Candidates are still tied, they share the rank and the cash award for that position is divided equally between them.

8.5 Results. We expect to announce results and send scorecards by 31 March 2027. Results are emailed to you and winners are listed on the Website.

8.6 Queries. Within 7 days of results, you may ask us to recheck that your score was correctly totalled and recorded. We will not share the question paper, answer key or other Candidates’ responses, and we do not re-evaluate answers. Our decision on a query is final.

9.1 Awards. Awards are decided by Subject Rank or National Rank, as set out below.

A Candidate can receive more than one award unless the table says otherwise.

9.2 Who provides the awards. S Chand provides and delivers the cash awards, the international trips, the Amazon vouchers, the meeting with Mr. Lakhmir Singh and inclusion in books. CENTA provides the teacher support program, the Global Teacher Meet and TPO Finals invitations, certificates and scorecards.

9.3 Claiming an award. To receive an award, you must send us, within 30 days of our request:

• proof of eligibility (clause 3.3);
• your PAN, and bank details in your own name for cash awards; and
• any other KYC document required by law.

If you do not, we may give the award to the next eligible Candidate.

9.4 Tax. Awards are taxable winnings. We will deduct tax at source as required by Indian income-tax law before paying a cash award, and give you a certificate of the tax deducted. Tax is also due on the value of non-cash awards. Where tax at source applies to a non-cash award, such as the international trip, you must pay us the tax amount we notify before the award is released. If you do not pay within 30 days, the award lapses. You are responsible for any further tax on your awards.

9.5 International trip. The trip covers return economy airfare from a city in India we choose, shared accommodation, and local travel and meals as set out in the itinerary. The destination, dates and itinerary will be announced with the results, and the trip will take place by 31 December 2027. You are responsible for a valid passport, your visa (we will provide supporting letters), travel insurance and personal expenses. If you cannot travel on the dates we set, or cannot obtain a visa in time, the trip lapses and is not replaced with cash.

9.6 Inclusion in books and meetings. For inclusion in S Chand books, you agree that S Chand may publish your name, photograph, school, city, a short profile you approve, and your rank. S Chand decides the book, edition, placement and timing. You may opt out of publication by telling us in writing, and you will not be given a substitute award.

9.7 General. Awards are personal and cannot be transferred or exchanged for cash. If an award becomes unavailable for reasons outside our control, we may replace it with one of similar or greater value. We aim to deliver awards within 90 days of results, except the trip, GTM, TPO and programme, which follow their own schedules.

9.8 School recognition. School ratings, trophies and other school awards are based on the results of teachers registered through Institutional Registration. They are given to schools, not to individual Candidates, and are governed by separate terms for schools.

10.1 Every Candidate who completes the Examination receives a digital certificate of participation and a confidential scorecard showing their performance in each competency area. Candidates who do not attempt the Examination do not receive either.

10.2 If your school registered you, your scorecard is also shared with your school. Your school also receives a report on how its participating teachers performed, which it may use to plan training. If you were registered individually, your scorecard is shared only with you.

10.3 Certificates are issued in the name you registered with (clause 4.4) and can be verified online using the certificate number. Your scorecard measures performance in this Examination only. It is not a CENTA certification or a professional licence.

11.1 The questions, Examination platform, scorecard format, Website content and the CENTA and S Chand names and logos belong to CENTA, S Chand or their licensors. You may not copy, publish, sell or share any question, in any form, during or after the Examination.

11.2 You may share your own certificate, scorecard and rank, including on social media, and say that you took part in or won NTST-SSM 2027.

11.3 Publicity. If you win an award, you agree that the Organisers may publish your name, photograph, school, city, subject and rank on the Website, in social media, press releases and Competition materials, without payment. If you are named as a winner, we may also invite you to an award event, which may be photographed or filmed. You may ask us not to use your photograph by writing to us before results are announced.

12.1 We will contact you about your registration, Ticket, Examination, results and awards by email, SMS and WhatsApp. These messages are part of the Competition and you cannot opt out of them while you are registered.

12.2 You will receive news and offers about other CENTA or S Chand programmes and products only if you tick the separate, optional box at registration. You can withdraw that consent at any time.

12.3 Our use of your personal data, including proctoring recordings, is described in the NTST-SSM Privacy Policy, which forms part of these terms.

13.1 We may change these terms, the Examination format, dates, Slots or awards where reasonably necessary. If a change materially affects you, we will email you and post it on the Website at least 7 days before it takes effect, except where a change is needed urgently or by law.

13.2 If we move the Examination to a new date, your registration carries over. If you cannot attend the new date, you may ask for a full refund within 15 days of our notice (clause 5.5).

13.3 We may postpone, suspend or cancel all or part of the Competition because of events outside our reasonable control. These include natural disasters, epidemics, government orders, widespread internet or power outages, cyber-attacks, or failures of third-party services. If we cancel the Competition entirely, we will refund the fee in full. We are not liable for any other loss caused by such events.

14.1 The Competition, Website and Examination platform are provided “as is”. We take reasonable care to run them reliably and fairly, but we do not promise they will be free of interruptions or errors.

14.2 To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for any indirect or consequential loss, or for loss of opportunity, reputation or expected winnings.

14.3 To the extent the law allows, the total liability of CENTA and S Chand together to you, for all claims relating to the Competition, is limited to the registration fee you paid. This is in line with CENTA’s Terms of Use.

14.4 Each Organiser is responsible only for its own role under clause 1.1. S Chand is not responsible for the Examination, results or your data handled by CENTA. CENTA is not responsible for the delivery of awards provided by S Chand.

14.5 Nothing in these terms limits liability for fraud, for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for anything else that cannot be limited under Indian law, including your rights under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

14.6 Your responsibility. You agree to compensate the Organisers for losses they suffer because you broke clause 7 (Conduct) or clause 11.1 (sharing questions), or gave false information to win an award.

15.1 These terms are governed by the laws of India. Subject to clause 15.3, the courts at New Delhi have exclusive jurisdiction.

15.2 Grievances. Write to us first so we can try to resolve your concern. We will acknowledge your complaint within 48 hours and aim to resolve it within 30 days.

• Grievance Officer, CENTA
• Email: team@centa.org

15.3 If we cannot resolve a dispute within 30 days, either side may refer it to a sole arbitrator appointed by mutual agreement or, failing that, under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The seat of arbitration is New Delhi and the language is English. This does not stop you from going to a consumer commission where the law allows.

15.4 If any part of these terms is found invalid, the rest continues to apply. If we do not enforce a clause straight away, we can still enforce it later.