Encouraging the students, honourable guest, Dr Joseph Emmanuel, CBSE Director of Academics, said, “For the past hour and a half, I’ve observed you closely. You all are incredibly talented. As critical thinkers and problem solvers, you embody what we envision. All the potential is already within you – you just need to acknowledge and embrace your talents. With the right platform, you have the capability to excel, as you’re demonstrating now. Remember, where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
The Classmate All Rounder competition is meant for students from classes 5 to 10, and they are judged on multiple parameters like Academics, Co-curricular, Fitness, Talent, Emotional and Intelligence Quotient (EQ & IQ), life skills and community focus. The competition is held in three stages- School level, City level and National Final. The winners from the city-level competition round, coming from cities across the country, participate in the National Final.
The CAR 2nd edition began in August 2023, and saw the participation of 4.5 lakh students from more than 2,700 schools across the nation. The National Final round was held in New Delhi from January 21 to January 23, 2024.
There are four rounds in the Grand Finale: Introduction, on-stage quiz, Talent-show (finalists showcase their talents on stage, that can range from artistic to athletic), and a Question and Answer session, where the eminent judges ask situational questions to understand the participant’s thinking skills and community behaviour. Based on the scores, the two highest-scoring candidates from the Junior and Senior category are awarded the Classmate All Rounder title.
The National Final round saw an eminent panel of judges across different domains ranging from sports to art and culture. The judges included Saina Nehwal, Badminton Champion, Sawanand Kirkire, writer, actor, playback-singer and Sangeeta Phogat, prominent wrestler. The event also saw the presence of Dr Joseph Emmanuel, Director of Academics, CBSE and ITC CEO Vikas Gupta.
Speaking about the event, Mr. Gupta, said, “The core philosophy at Classmate is to ‘Enjoy Learning,’ and our aim is to be a steadfast companion throughout the educational journey of students in India. We are devoted to closely working with CBSE, ICSE, as well as state and other education boards.”
The programme also includes the concept of a Star School Rating, which ranks schools based on the quality of their infrastructure, individual student scores, and the total number of students who compete in the All Rounder event.
Classmate All Rounder aims to create a multi-skill inter-school competition and a reliable recognition method to assess students’ overall skill development. It also awards a percentile-based proficiency score to the participating students and respective schools.
This competition also supports students in the development of transferable skills outside of the classroom, while maintaining the core values of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020:Experiential, discussion-focussed, discovery-driven, and enjoyable learning.