Children of Bachpan Play School, Rourkela, dress up as flowers during a fancy dress competition. Picture by Uttam Kumar Pal

Vital lessons

Supreme Court judge Ananga Kumar Patnaik addressed the sixth foundation lecture of the Sai International School, Bhubaneswar, on April 13. He shared the mantra of leading a disciplined life, stating that education, strong character, good health and good income were the keys for a gratifying life.

Patnaik spoke about provisions under the Right to Education Act and made students aware of the importance of education.

School chairman Bijoy Kumar Sahoo said eminent personalities such as former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, director of the Central Board of Secondary Education Vineeth Joshi, former IPS officer Chandrabhanu Satpathy and business leader Subroto Bagchi had addressed the school’s foundation lecture in the past five years. Sampriti Panda of Class IX, a science and mathematics wizard, was presented the Sai Innovation Award for his achievements.

State achievers

More names have been added to the state’s merit list for Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana, an ongoing national programme of fellowships in basic sciences. The programme is being organised in two phases by the science and technology department of the central government.

Soumya Swaroop Dash from DAV Public School (Unit-VIII), Bhubaneswar secured the first position among all Class XII contestants across the state. His all-India rank is 37. His other classmates, Omm Swarup Hota, Manisha Mohanty, B. Bishal Subuddhi, Amit Bikram Mohanty and Pragyan Das also bagged good ranks.

From Mother’s Public School, three Class XI students — Raj Sekhar Mohapatra (third in state), Pritam Priyadarshi (17th) and Saswat Mishra (20th) — came out with flying colours. Their all-India ranks are 52, 304 and 367 respectively.

Young scientist

Jyoti Ranjan Sahoo, a Class X student of DAV Public School (Unit-VIII), Bhubaneswar, has been selected to represent the country at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, 2013.

The fair will be organised in Phoenix, Arizona, between May 12 and 17.

Besides competing with participants from 70 countries, Sahoo will also get the opportunity to interact with Nobel laureates and other eminent scientists.

Jyoti, who has invented Eyerinator, a device for persons suffering from various eyesight problems, earlier received the National Child Award from President Pranab Mukherjee.

He was also adjudged the “child scientist” in the National Science Congress of 2010 and 2012 as well as in the CBSE regional and national-level science exhibitions.

Jyoti also bagged the Ignite award, which is given by the National Innovation Foundation of the central government.