The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the University Grants Commission (UGC) are organizing a national-level crossword contest for students of higher education between March and August in the current year. The three-stage exercise called National Inter-college Crossword Contest 2022 (NICE-22) will be held in a hybrid online-offline mode.

A circular to this effect was issued on Tuesday by AICTE and UGC. The regulators of higher education in the country acknowledge the efficacy of crosswords in imparting multiple benefits to students. Some of the key benefits that the game brings to young minds are enhancing logical reasoning, stimulating problem-solving attitude, inculcating a sense of quick decision making among other such cognitive skills. Such an activity in colleges and technical institutes will be a shot in the arm of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 which calls for a vibrant campus life and a holistic education ecosystem promoting multi-disciplinary talent among students. 

The contest will have a Student/Institutional Round in an online mode; five offline Zonal Rounds for North, South, West, East and Northeast; and an offline National Round in New Delhi. The first Round will be open to all students from colleges and institutes to play individually. It will involve solving crossword clues online for four successive Sundays starting April 3, 2022. After the fourth Sunday round on April 24, 2022, the top two participants from each institute will form the institutions’ teams for the offline rounds. A Practice Round will be held on April 2, 2022 to familiarize the participants to the contest format.     

All the three stages will be conducted by Extra-C, a civil society initiative for promoting knowledge-based co-curricular activities. All participating students will have to register on https://nice.crypticsingh.com. The free-of-cost registration has started on the website.

While all participants will receive certificates, the top three teams in the National Round will receive cash prizes. Details about the format, rules and ‘How to Play’ may be accessed at https://nice.crypticsingh.com.

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