Back in 2010, when Vaibhav Chauhan co-founded Sahapedia.org, an open encyclopedia on the arts, cultures and histories of India, he realised that parents were actively using the online resource to expose their children to heritage stories that school textbooks rarely did justice to. So, when Chauhan and architect Anjchita B Nair started Cultre, an enterprise that seeks to bridge the different, but dependent fields of culture and commerce, the duo decided to make "heritage education" a prime focus of their work. "Heritage and history are currently being taught in a very generic way at schools. It needs to be made exciting and immersive," says Chauhan, a heritage professional with 15 years of experience. The duo brainstormed on ideas ranging from heritage clubs and quizzes at schools. "But, we were looking for a hook to make children look for heritage information themselves," shares Nair. That's how The Heritage Olympiad was born.

Starting next month, the first-of-its-kind competitive exam in India, will be held every quarter for students and heritage lovers. The team started work on this project during the lockdown, reaching out to knowledge partners, volunteers and schools keen to be part of the initiative.