Come test your knowledge of India as India’s first Heritage Olympiad will be launched on World Heritage Day on April 18. Anjchita B Nair’s start up ‘Culture’ (#Culture/@CultureApp) is conducting the Heritage Olympiad. Culture, a heritage and culture startup, has introduced India’s first online Olympiad on all domains related to Indian arts, culture, and heritage, bringing heritage education to students and enthusiasts alike. It aims to strengthen heritage education and provide a comprehensive test of all things related to Indian heritage, focusing on its three main aspects: Tangible, Intangible, and Natural heritage.

 

Heritage Olympiad has been conceived with the goal of integrating heritage education in schools and making it more accessible to a younger audience. “While conceptualising the Heritage Olympiad, we have tried to comprehend and make use of conceptual definitions that are available with international organisations like UNESCO. However, we were quite aware that this subject matter is meant for Indian students and teachers who are coming from diverse cultural regions and backgrounds,” said Anjchita B Nair, COO, Culture. Heritage from an Indian perspective is about flowing traditions that on one hand are handed down from the past and on the other hand are traditions that are created in the present which will be passed onto future generations in one form or another. Traditions of past and present merge to become a feature of civilisational identity.

 

In keeping with this conceptual framework, the curriculum for The Heritage Olympiad has been designed in a way that is broadly aligned with the curriculum and syllabus followed by the major National and International Boards. It also integrates concepts of Global Citizenship and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); Environment and Sustainability and Protection of Traditional Knowledge, Heritage Sites and Historic Features of the Heritage Olympiad include A unique single-window access to India’s multi-faceted culture and history, Aligned to National Educational Policy 2020, Created in collaboration with experts in cultural and education sector, Interdisciplinary approach to arts & cultural education – focus on people, process, material and technology. The Heritage Olympiad is open to all, students and heritage enthusiasts.

 

It is conducted at 4 levels such as Group 1 - Classes 5th, 6th & 7th, Group 2 - Classes 8th, 9th & 10th, Group 3 - Classes 11th & 12th and Group 4 Undergraduate/ graduate students & heritage enthusiasts Culture has collaboration with National Rail Museum, Sahapedia, Museums of India, India Heritage Walks, MICA Ahmedabad, Banasthali Vidyapith, Potli, Nehru Planetarium, Mehrangarh Museum Trust, Madras Inherited, Trip My Way, Narayana Vigyan Foundation and Kolkata Centre for Creativity. “We will also collaborate with cultural institutions, curators, web encyclopedias, artists and teachers in order to create relevant content for their users/audiences. Through our products we shall promote all other platforms that bring people closer to cultural experiences, both physical as well as digital. We shall also feature products in vernacular language by making content authoring tools available to artists, curators and cultural institutions,” she said.