Stories of courage, conviction and relentless toil emerged in an awards ceremony that salutes the undaunted spirit of students.
On Saturday, children from close to 700 schools received certificates at the inaugural ceremony of IIHM presents The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence 2023, 28th edition, in association with Adamas University Kolkata and The Bhawanipur Education Society College.
The finale will be held at the Science City auditorium on August 26.
Last year, The Telegraph Education Foundation handed over scholarships worth Rs 45 lakh. This year, the foundation has targeted and almost touched Rs 60 lakh.
The scholarships help many students from across the state inch closer to their dreams.
Like Shrestha Banerjee, a student of Class XI who will get at least a couple of new textbooks.
Shrestha, 16, who passed Madhyamik with 96 per cent from Gobindapur Gyanada Debi Girls High School, Baruipur, has borrowed books from her seniors so as to ease the burden on her mother who is a cook in a college canteen.
The scholarship will help Priya Das, a first-year student who was asked to quit college by her father who works in a local salon in Garia because Rs 40 to commute to and from the institution every day was a lot of money.
Priya is studying history honours at Women’s Christian College in Kalighat.
Shrestha received The Sujata Chaudhuri Memorial Scholarship and Priya The Lakshmipat Singhania Education Foundation Scholarship.
In the past 28 years, the awards ceremony has grown from a single-day event to one that is spread over two days.
The inaugural ceremony has also grown, both in spirit and size and over the years moved from smaller auditoriums to bigger ones.
At South City International School on Saturday, there were many students, teachers and parents who did not get a seat but stood on the aisles to applaud children who made it to the dais by virtue of their grit and determination.
Barry O’Brien, trustee, The Telegraph Education Foundation, asked those who were sitting to give a round of applause for those standing.
“Thank you for your understanding. It shows that we who live in Calcutta or outside Calcutta have in us patience and courtesy,” said O’Brien.
He invited the audience to the Science City event.
“Even if you are not receiving anything you will watch some real stories in front of your eyes,” he said.
Some of the stories unfolded at South City International School too.
Whether it was 17-year-old Lakshya Khowala, a student of Sri Sri Academy who has muscular dystrophy and for whom the award giver, a school principal, stepped down from the stage to hand over the certificate; or the five-year-old student of Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, Ayansh Sheth, who has cerebral palsy and was carried to the stage by his father.
Both Lakshya and Ayansh received The Surrendra Paul Memorial Award for Courage.
Lakshya told The Telegraph: “It is a great honour.” The Class XII boy who passed Class X with 92.2 per cent marks doesn’t complain about using a wheelchair or crutches.
“Earlier, it was difficult to do things of everyday life like fetching my own glass of water or going to the washroom. Now I have learnt,” Lakshya said.
Then there was Torisha Mondal, the first in her family to go to college.
Torisha is studying physiology honours. Her father is a construction worker and her mother works as a domestic help.
The family’s income had dried up during the Covid pandemic and the subsequent lockdown and Torisha had no smartphone to attend classes in Class XI.
“My marks in Class XI went down but I made up later. I knew I would be able
to do it,” she told this newspaper.
Torisha received The Sheela Chopra Memorial Educational Scholarship.
On Saturday, certificates were handed over to close to 800 students, teachers and schools.
“Over the years we have had the opportunity of meeting a whole lot of extremely bright young minds, a lot of very eminent teachers, a lot of parents who have taken care of children and a whole lot of people from the education ecosystem. We have
been fortunate and we have been blessed...”, said Amitabha Datta, chairman,
The Telegraph Education Foundation.
One cannot undermine the contribution of teachers, too.
One such example was Bani Bhaban High School in Bijoygarh.
The teachers of the school contributed money from their own pocket to buy a small bus so that students could be ferried to and from school and they refrain from dropping out.
Many of their parents are domestic help or daily wage earners.
The school received Caring Minds Award for ‘A School that Cares.’
“The school (government-sponsored) had limited funds. But we voluntarily contribute so children can come to school,” said headmaster Basudeb Ghosh.