2026 AM/NS India Times Critical Thinking Championship Aims to Equip 1 Million Students with Essential 21st-Century Skills

Knowing the right answer matters in school, but knowing how to reach that answer matters even more. The AM/NS India Times Critical Thinking Championship 2026 wants students across India to get better at doing exactly that.

The national programme brings together ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India, known as AM/NS India, and the Times Foundation. The two organisations formalised their collaboration through a Memorandum of Understanding signed in New Delhi.

The scale of the initiative makes it especially ambitious. Organisers aim to reach nearly one million students from Classes III to XII across more than 4,000 schools throughout India. The focus goes far beyond another school quiz or academic contest. Students will work on reasoning, observation, problem-solving, independent judgment, and the ability to examine evidence before reaching a conclusion.

Those skills have become increasingly valuable as young people grow up surrounded by social media, artificial intelligence, online claims, and endless streams of information. Finding information takes seconds now, but deciding what deserves trust requires much more thought.

Moving Students Beyond Rote Learning

@toitctc / Instagram / The Critical Thinking Championship takes a unique approach by asking students to question, compare, reason, and make informed judgments.

That approach closely matches the goals of India’s National Education Policy 2020. The policy encourages experiential and inquiry-based learning, with greater attention placed on understanding concepts instead of simply memorising textbook material.

Critical thinking starts with asking useful questions. Students need to recognize what they know, identify what remains unclear, examine the available evidence, and decide which conclusions actually make sense.

These habits can help in almost every subject. A science student can question why an experiment produced a certain result, while a history student can compare sources before accepting one version of an event. The championship focuses on five core areas of critical thinking. These include separating facts from opinions, recognizing the difference between correlation and causation, identifying problems, examining assumptions and inferences, and evaluating arguments.

Each skill has a practical use outside school. Someone who understands the difference between fact and opinion, for example, has a better chance of spotting misleading claims in advertisements, viral posts, and online videos.

Correlation and causation can be equally important. Two events happening together do not automatically mean one caused the other, yet misleading arguments often depend on people making exactly that assumption.

Evaluating arguments also teaches students to look beyond confidence and presentation. A claim may sound convincing, but strong reasoning requires relevant evidence and a logical connection between that evidence and the conclusion.

The programme adapts these ideas for different age groups. Students are divided into tiers covering Classes III to V, Classes VI to VIII, and Classes IX to XII, allowing tasks to match their level of development.

Nearly One Million Students Could Take Part

@toitctc / Instagram / The 2026 championship aims to reach close to one million students across 28 states and eight Union Territories. More than 4,000 schools are expected to participate.

The participating institutions also include 242 schools supported through AM/NS India’s education initiatives. The championship forms part of the company’s broader corporate social responsibility work focused on education and stronger communities.

The target represents a major expansion from the previous edition. The 2025 championship reportedly attracted around two lakh students from roughly 5,000 schools across 25 cities.

Teacher development was also a significant part of that effort. More than 5,000 teachers received training, helping critical thinking methods reach classrooms beyond the students directly participating in the competition.