The Tata-Hitachi award winners of the Gulmohar English School. Picture by Uma Shankar Dubey

Jamshedpur, Oct. 8: Sixteen-year-old Rohit Kumar walked up to the stage smilingly even as Chanchala Kumari waited anxiously for her turn.

They have bagged the Tata-Hitachi award and a special award respectively for academic and co-curricular excellence..

They were not the only ones to steal the thunder at the Gulmohar English School premises as some of their schoolmates, too, performed well enough to bag honours.

While the Tata-Hitachi award was reserved for Rohit Kumar and Santosh Kumar, Chanchala Kumari, Debashish Mishra and Chandrarati Bhattacharya bagged special prizes awarded by their school.

Dr T. Mukherjee, deputy managing director of Tata Steel handed over the awards to the successful candidates who had excelled in academic and co-curricular activities at a function this evening.

Rohit, who secured 92.8 per cent in the ICSE examination, holds ambitions of pursuing a career in engineering.

“I have harboured a dream of becoming an engineer right from my childhood. I also have an inclination towards research work,” he said, holding the gleaming shield.

Santosh, who bagged the honour for his performance in ISC, was not present on the occasion. His father received the award on his behalf.

The Tata-Hitachi award is given by Tata Engineering to the children of its employees for achieving academic and co-curricular excellence. The award was instituted in 1986.

Chandrarati, who had secured 89.5 per cent marks in ISC, is also a topper in her school. According to school principal Manjula Chatterji, she is also a good orator.

Chadrarati said she wanted to become a statistician.

With an intention to not let its students feel deprived of honours, Gulmohar English School, had also lined up awards for students who have achieved academic and co-curricular success. Abhishek Mukherjee and Bikas Kumar were also given awards for best performance in the Gulutsav, a cultural event, which took place in the school last August. Mukherjee called upon the students to draw inspiration from the lives of Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Alexander.

“It is ambition which matters. The great figures who achieved success in their lives had ambition to succeed,” he added. Mukherjee pointed out that students nowadays have several options at their disposal and they should make full use of the options.

Social worker Shubhra Mukherjee and school principal Manjula Chatterjee were also present on the occasion.