BusinessWire India
Pune (Maharashtra) [India], July 11: In a bold move to reshape how India evaluates student potential, Edjuvenate has launched Qriosity Quest, a nationwide initiative that flips the traditional evaluation system on its head by rewarding students not for answers, but for the questions they ask.
Founded on the belief that problem formulation is the core skill of the AI era, Qriosity Quest challenges students from Grades 5 to 12 to engage with stories, dilemmas, and ideas - and respond with questions, reflections, and original thought. The program is currently being rolled out across different cities in schools.
From Rote Learning to Question Asking: A Challenge to the System
"For decades, our education system has trained students to memorize and reproduce the right answers. But the future especially in an AI-driven world, belongs to those who can ask the right questions," says Shubham Chaturvedi, founder of Edjuvenate. The inspiration for Qriosity Quest came from a simple but powerful observation: while exams reward recall, the real world and real innovation reward curiosity. "When I saw the rise of tools like ChatGPT, I realized something deeper," says Chaturvedi. "Anyone could access knowledge now, but to unlock your potential, you need to know what to ask. While the whole world is focussing on what is going to change with the advent of AI, I thought, what will not change? Curiosity that has led humanity to innovations across ages is the human superpower that will remain unchanged; people able to formulate problems will continue to thrive in the new world."
But there's a structural problem, he explains. "In India, question-asking isn't encouraged. Not at home, not in schools, and not in society. Children are conditioned to follow, not to wonder. That's the deeper issue we wanted to address and reprogram."
How It Works: A Thinking Quest, Not a Test
Qriosity Quest runs as a 45-minute pen and paper based exercise in the classroom where students engage with carefully designed prompts that push them to imagine, question, empathize, and solve. They're not tested on factual knowledge or speed, but on the quality of thought reflected in their responses.
Each student receives a Qriosity Map - a personalized report that maps their thinking based on these, students also receive suggestions on subject inclinations, possible career paths, and skill nudges to strengthen their cognitive profile and bridge the deficits for an AI driven world.
More Than Reports: A Full Ecosystem of Change
Qriosity Quest doesn't stop at the student level. Every school receives a Teacher's Lens - a classroom-level report with trait-based strategies and learner profiles. Parents receive a Letter to Parents, guiding them on how to spark curiosity at home. The Leadership Compass provides school leaders with a big-picture dashboard of thinking patterns across grades which is completely aligned with NEP 2020 and 21st-century goals.
Rewarding the Question Asking
One of the most unique aspects of Qriosity Quest is its reward system. Instead of giving prizes for correct answers or top scores, the initiative awards Rs. 1000/month scholarships for one student per class purely on the basis of originality, emotional depth, and question quality.
"India has enough rewards for toppers," says Chaturvedi. "What we're missing is a system that sees the child who asks thought provoking questions because unless we question the norm no innovation will happen. Lack of question asking is directly linked to India lagging behind in patent filing and R&D globally. This scholarship is our way of saying - we see your mind, and it matters."
Backed by Research, Designed for India
The Qriosity framework is rooted in robust cognitive science drawing from the work of researchers like Berlyne, Loewenstein, and Kashdan and aligned with Bloom's Taxonomy and design thinking principles. Responses are scored using a blind rubric, and every response is double-checked to ensure inter-rater reliability, minimizing evaluator bias.
Pilot programs were conducted with support from Teach for India fellows and educators from institutions like TISS. Feedback from teachers, parents, and school heads has been overwhelmingly positive.
Voices from the Field
Dr. Diwakar Rai, Principal of a pilot school in Varanasi, shares:
"Qriosity Quest helped us see students in an entirely new way. Those who rarely speak in class came alive in their questions. This is the kind of tool schools need, not more ranking systems but reflection systems."
A student from Pune wrote:
"I didn't even know my mind worked like this. It felt like someone was listening to my inner thoughts, not just checking my answers. I also got to know which subjects and careers align with how I think along with the colleges I can pursue them in, no one had ever shown me that before."
A Movement for a Curious India
Edjuvenate's long-term vision is to build a culture of question-asking in India not just in classrooms, but across homes, communities, and institutions. "We've built an army of test-takers," says Chaturvedi. "Now, we need to build the world's best thinkers." Qriosity Quest is just the first step in that direction.
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