Patna: Students from Bihar have emerged as top performers in the April results of the year-long online crossword challenge ACAD (A-Clue-A-Day), with participants from rural schools securing leading positions at the national level.
Bittu Kumar of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Residential School in Bharra, Begusarai, topped the national rankings in the school category. Two other students from the same network of schools — Aditya Raj and Ravi Kishan of the Pokhraira campus in Muzaffarpur — secured second and third positions respectively.
Strong Showing Across Categories
In other categories, Shraddha Shree of St Michael’s High School, Patna, ranked first in the college category, while Dhirendra Kumar from Ahmedabad topped the senior category and Samit Kallianpur from Secunderabad led the global category.
Second and third positions were also shared by participants from institutions across the country, including IIT Madras and IGIMS Patna in the college category, and participants from Kerala and Chennai in the senior and global categories.
Growing Reach Of Crossword Challenge
The ACAD competition, launched in 2014 by the civil society initiative Extra-C, is designed as a daily online crossword aimed at combining learning with recreation. Over time, it has expanded into four segments: school, college, senior (for participants aged 60 and above), and global.
The contest is hosted on the organisation’s official website and is open to participants worldwide.
Accessible And Year-Long Format
Participation in the challenge is free, with users able to register online and attempt daily puzzles. While the contest runs throughout the year, its competitive phase is held between February 1 and October 31.
Organisers said the strong performance by students from Bihar’s hinterland reflects increasing access to educational tools and growing engagement with intellectual pursuits beyond metropolitan centres.
