India is one of the most under-insured countries in the world, given the nature of its young demographic. The insurance penetration for India was pegged at 4.2% in 2021, which was lower than the global average of 7%. One of the reasons for low insurance penetration is low awareness about insurance.
Doing its bit to spread insurance awareness, particularly among the youth of the country, HDFC ERGO took a step forward to reach out to young minds - the future of India. In 2016, it held the first Insurance Awareness Award Junior, a Quiz contest designed to build awareness on insurance in the form of a challenge that would be engaging and informative for school students.
In its first edition, The quiz was held in phases wherein the best schools in Mumbai were invited to nominate a team of students for the preliminary rounds. As a part of this phase, insurance awareness workshops were conducted by HDFC ERGO representatives, explaining the concept of insurance, at the premises of the participating schools. The students were also provided with booklets on insurance to help them understand the topic in greater detail, during the workshops.
The Grand Finale of the first edition of the HDFC ERGO Insurance Awareness Award Junior was hosted on 27th September 2016, commemorating the Foundation Day of HDFC ERGO.
Over the years, the popularity of the quiz has grown by leaps and bounds as HDFC ERGO has been expanding its geographic boundaries to include students from all across the country.
In 2022, when HDFC ERGO announced the 7th edition of India’s insurance quiz for school students, it received a resounding response. The initiative witnessed over 2600 students, from 1500 schools in 110+ cities across India, contesting to win the coveted award. This year, there are prizes worth Rs. 7.5 lakh to be won across the different levels of the quiz contest.
Through this nation-wide quiz, under the banner Hauslon ki Udaan – A Flight Towards Secured Tomorrow – HDFC ERGO carried forward its mission to build insurance literacy among children, in a larger effort to create awareness about this necessary life skill.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the zonal rounds were held virtually for the third consecutive year. The event had a 4-tiered structure, which saw school students participating in elimination rounds at the city and zonal level before going on to the zonal finals and then, the grand finale, which will host the winning teams from four zones – the East, West, North and South.
To make the initiative more interesting, there is also a provision for two wild card entries from among the runner-up teams from the zonal round finals, to enter the grand finale through a lucky draw. With that, a total of 6 teams will be competing for the title of the National Champions in the grand finale.
The zonal rounds saw 13 teams battling for four spots in the eliminator round. After scintillating competition at each of the zonal finals, which included questions from the insurance domain and general knowledge, four teams qualified to participate in the grand finale.
Kicking off in the South, the first zone saw Bhashyam Em School Pendurthi, Visakhapatnam; Bhaktavatsalam Vidyashram, Chennai; Kennedy High The Global School, Hyderabad and St. Thomas Residential School, Thiruvananthapuram contesting to become the representative of the South zone. Kennedy High, The Global School, Hyderabad, bagged a victory and moved to the final round.
From the North zone, Cambridge Court High School, Jaipur; Jawaharlal Nehru School (Senior Wing), Bhopal; New Kesari Vidhyapeeth Senior Secondary School, Jaipur and Sanskar School, Jaipur reached the zonal finals. The three teams from Jaipur tied with 35 points each, while Jawaharlal Nehru School (Senior Wing), Bhopal was a clear winner with 55 points and made its way to the finale.
The four teams that qualified for the West zone final were Choithram School, Indore; Navrachana Higher Secondary School Sama, Vadodara; New Era Senior Secondary School, Vadodara and St. Xavier’s High School, Mumbai. After a tie-breaker between Navrachana Higher Secondary School Sama, Vadodara and New Era Senior Secondary School, Vadodara became the West zone winner for 2022.
In the East zone, the four teams that made it past the zonal elimination were Amarpati Lions Citizens Public School, Siliguri; Delhi Public School, Raipur; G D Goenka Public School, Siliguri and Krishna Public School, Raipur. Krishna Public School, Raipur dwarfed the competition with a humongous 140 points lead to move to the grand finale.
With that the stage was set for a nail-biting grand finale of the HDFC ERGO Insurance Awareness Award Junior - 2022.
This is a Partnered Post.
Read all the Latest News here