School Innovation Challenge
Solving a Problem at School — organised by ISTSOS
That's a wrap — and it was a huge success. Thank you to every team, mentor, and judge who made SIC 2026 unforgettable. Here's a look back at the challenge our teams took on.
Smart Attendance & Classroom Display System
Right now, attendance is taken by hand, and there's no easy way to know who's teaching a class, whether a substitute has stepped in, or how attendance is going. Your challenge: build a system that fixes this, using the classroom smart board and the barcode already printed on your school ID card.
Your solution must do this
Let the teacher in charge manage everything — schedule, substitutes, notices — from one central dashboard
Take attendance automatically using the barcode already on your school ID card — no new cards, no fingerprint scanners, no writing names on paper
Show on the smart board: the current time, the subject and teacher for that period, and who's covering if there's a substitute
Show live attendance for the class, right on the board
Be able to send notices to a single class or to every class at once
Run on Android, since that's what the classroom smart boards use
Be realistic for students to actually build, install, and keep running
How it works
Register your team (up to 4 people, Grades 6–12)
Research the problem and come up with your solution
Submit your idea as a PDF through the Google Form
Present it to the judges on event day — the winner is announced the same day
The full rules
Who Can Join
- Open to students in Grades 6–12
- Teams of up to 4 members
- Members can be from different grades or sections
The Problem Scope
- This year's challenge is fixed: build a Smart Attendance & Classroom Display System
- Every team works on this same problem — you can't swap it out for a different idea
Conduct
- Do your own work. Looking things up, using AI tools, or asking for help is fine — just be upfront about it, don't pass it off as entirely solo
- Everything you present — research, data, demos — has to be real and true, no faking results
- Don't damage any school property
- No dangerous materials or methods: chemicals, open flames, high-voltage wiring, or anything unsafe is not allowed
- Get permission first before taking photos, interviewing anyone, or testing something on campus
- The school has the final say on whether and how the winning idea actually gets built
Every team is scored on the same rubric.
Winning Team
NRS 4,000 cash + a trophy
Every Team
Every participating team receives a certificate
What to expect
AV Hall
Sunday, 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Team size: Up to 4
Teams get 20–25 minutes to gather and finalize their presentation
Teams are then called up one by one, in order of their team number
Judges may ask a few questions after each presentation
SIC 2026 was a huge success 🎉
Thank you to everyone who took part. Relive the day through the photos from the event.
See the PhotosQuestions? Contact Anuja Gautam, Event Coordinator, Class 11