HCL Jigsaw Announces India’s Top Young Problem Solvers

Delhi: The first edition of HCL Jigsaw, India’s premier critical reasoning platform designed to assess important 21st-century skills in young (Grade 6 to 9) students, today announced the 12 winners of the multi-stage competition. Crowned as ‘India’s Top Young Problem Solvers’, the winners demonstrated exceptional problem-solving and critical-reasoning skills through creative solutions to real-world problems that they were required to solve during the competition.

12 winners selected from a pool of 7000 applicants
Winners earn gift prizes and gadgets worth up to Rs. 1 lakh, each along with learning opportunity at HCL Engineering and Innovation labs

​The first edition of HCL Jigsaw, India’s premier critical reasoning platform designed to assess important 21st-century skills in young (Grade 6 to 9) students, today announced the 12 winners of the multi-stage competition. Crowned as ‘India’s Top Young Problem Solvers’, the winners demonstrated exceptional problem-solving and critical-reasoning skills through creative solutions to real-world problems that they were required to solve during the competition.

HCL Jigsaw hosted a Pan-India Critical Reasoning Olympiad as the qualifier round (or round 1) earlier this month using an adaptive multiple-choice questions format. The top 30 percentile or around 1000 students qualified for the final stage of the competition which took place on July 31st and August 1st. Stage one of the two-day finale saw participants grouped in teams of three, working together on a common problem in a virtual mystery room set-up. Here participants were assessed on their collaborative skills and creativity. The top three teams, consisting of 36 finalists, were shortlisted to compete in the final stage at an individual level. They presented their plans to solve a real-world case scenario to an expert jury that included eminent leaders and academicians subject matter experts from HCL and Shiv Nadar Foundation.

Finalists in each grade were given problems related to specific sectoral themes. These included Future of Shopping (Grade 6), Designing Smart Cities (Grade 7), Creating an Empathetic Healthcare Solution (Grade 8), and Designing an Electric Vehicle (Grade 9). The top three students from each grade (a total of 12 students) were declared the winners of the inaugural edition of HCL Jigsaw.

Congratulating the winners, Mr. Sundar Mahalingam, President Strategy at HCL Corporation, said, “A big shout-out to all winners in what was a keenly fought competition. At HCL, we are focused on helping multiply the potential of individuals and communities at large. HCL Jigsaw is an endeavor to enable this by helping enhance 21st-century skills in young individuals that allow them to grow into leaders of tomorrow.”

The winners of the first edition of HCL Jigsaw are:

Grade 9 was assessed on solutions for designing an Electric Vehicle suitable for extreme weather conditions
Arav Manoj, The Samhita Academy, Bengaluru
Khyati Kulshreshta, AMU Girls’ School, Aligarh
Raghav Garg, Shiv Nadar School, Faridabad

Grade 8 was assessed for designing a Healthcare App for patients, enabling smooth consultation and treatment completion
Nithika N, D.A.V Public School, Velachery, Chennai
Siddhartha Bose, Julien Day School Ganganagar, Kolkata
Vijayalakshmi Rangnathan, Clarence Public School, Bengaluru

Grade 7 was assessed for creating an integrated technology-led system for a Smart City
Adil Jibu, Home school, Bengaluru
Ahan Sparsh, Welham Boys’ School, Dehradun
Stasha Shivnani, Vikhe Patil Memorial School, Pune

Grade 6 was assessed on solutions for designing an Electric Vehicle suitable for extreme weather conditions
Aalekh Tandon, Ryan International School, Bannerghatta, Bengaluru
Sai Arun Prasaad, Budding Minds International School, Chennai
Yuvankumar S, Hiranandani Upscale School, Chennai

The 12 winners of HCL Jigsaw will get an opportunity to experience HCL Engineering and Innovation labs along with cash prizes and gadgets worth Rs. 1 lakh, each.

The participating students at HCL Jigsaw Finale represented over 500 leading schools from across the country, including Delhi Public Schools, Shiv Nadar School, The DAV Public School Velachery, Chennai, and many more. 71% of the qualifying students came from cities including Bengaluru (highest number of students), Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Kolkata, Pune, and Faridabad.