An annual celebration of courage and perseverance turned also into a celebration of identity — who you are, the language you speak, the way you look, and the work you do.

“Matribhashai sobcheye priyo, kono bhasha-i noyko heyo,” read a giant screen on the stage of The Telegraph School Awards For Excellence 2025 on Saturday.

A rough translation: My mother tongue is my favourite, but no language is lesser.

That was the theme of the 30th edition of the awards — presented by the International Institute of Hotel Management, in association with The Bhawanipur Education Society College, Adamas University and Exide.

“I did a DNA test,” said Barry O’Brien, a trustee of The Telegraph Education Foundation who has been hosting the programme for 30 years.

“It said my ancestors were more European than Bengali. But if AI could one day do a DNA test of the soul, my Bengaliness would hit it out of the park — Eden-er bairey.”

Since May this year, there has been an India-wide crackdown on Bengali-speaking people, mostly Muslims and from the informal working class, under the ostensible objective of weeding out “infiltrators and illegal immigrants”.

A Delhi police station has referred to Bengali as the “Bangladeshi language”. And the BJP’s social media boss, Amit Malviya, has claimed that “there is, in fact, no language called ‘Bengali’”.

“Irrespective of who has a problem with us speaking the language, wherever we go, we must have everyone speaking, embracing and even thinking in their mother tongue,” O’Brien told a packed Science City auditorium.

“Ami amar nijer bhashay kotha bolte chai; Ami nijer bhashay bhalobashte chai (I want to speak in my own language; I want to love in my own language). That is our theme today.”

Students of Patha Bhavan Dankuni staged a performance based on the Pratul Mukhopadhyay song, Ami Banglay gan gai/ Ami Banglar gan gai (I sing in Bengali/ I sing about Bengal).

As the show unfolded, its recognition of the resistance to stigma went beyond just language.

Here the spotlight was on Debangee Samanta, a recipient of The Surrendra Paul Memorial Award for Courage.

The Class XII student at St Teresa’s Secondary School suffers from alopecia universalis — a rare autoimmune disorder causing complete hair loss from scalp and body.

Debangee began losing her hair during the pandemic. People would stare at her, affecting her self-confidence. She became a recluse, confined to the four walls of her home, until she decided that enough was enough.

Reconciling with her condition was her first step towards transformation. Now, Debangee is popular at her school and everywhere else for her style statement — bold, colourful and unapologetic, topped with a headscarf.

Devangi

“That is a caterpillar-to-butterfly moment. She wears the headscarf like a crown,” said Raisa O’Brien, Barry’s daughter and co-host of the programme.

“I learnt to cope with difficulties while dealing with them,” Debangee told The Telegraph.

Giving voice to the voiceless was another awardee, Saptak Ray, a Class VIII student at Palashan Mrinalini Memorial High School in Raina, East Burdwan. He, too, received the courage award.

Saptak has haemophilia, an impairment of the body’s ability to clot blood, leading to prolonged bleeding after injuries. He needs a blood transfusion every week. Yet, he has maintained an excellent academic record.

But his passion is his campaign against cruelty to animals, triggered by personal loss. His dog was poisoned to death at his village, where the animals are seen as pests because they often damage farmland.

Saptak began reaching out to classmates, neighbours and the local community, advocating compassion for animals.

“He would be trolled, ridiculed. The villagers would taunt even those who supported him,” Saptak’s teacher Jyotirindra Narayan Lahiri told this newspaper.

“But of late, there’s been a change — with the issue (of the stray dog menace and the need to be humane in dealing with the problem) reaching the Supreme Court. At least, the people who would shrug off Saptak’s compassion for dogs have been silenced.”

Saptak also received The Late Debaprasad Das Purkayastha Memorial Scholarship.

The 30th edition of The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence 2025 was held at the Science City Auditorium in Calcutta on the morning of Saturday, August 30. Photo by Sanat Kr Sinha.

The Hall of Fame had an entrant after a gap of seven years. It was educationist Sukumar Paira, who has brought hope and enlightenment to young and old in his pocket of the Sundarbans.

Paira had set foot in the mangrove delta for the first time on a contractual teaching assignment in 1977. Bijoynagar Adarsha Vidyamandir in Bali Dwip, Gosaba, was a new school back then, with little to show apart from four mud walls, a semblance of a roof, and barely 130 students.

Today, the higher secondary school has a three-storey, concrete building and more than 1,700 students.

Paira had gone to the people seeking funds for the construction of a proper school building. “The school received funds from the Sarva Sikhsha Mission, but a lot of money also came from the donations made by people,” he said.

Apart from teaching the students, Paira trains farmers in the use of technology, has founded a women’s self-help group and a library, arranges mangrove plantation drives and science camps, and organises debates for children.

The 30th edition of The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence 2025 was held at the Science City Auditorium in Calcutta on the morning of Saturday, August 30. Photo by Sanat Kr Sinha.

Also under the spotlight were parents who had withstood every challenge that life threw at them so that their children could have a better future.

One of them was Manju Bibi, from a village on the banks of the Ichhamati in Basirhat. Deserted by her husband nine years ago, she has brought up her three daughters alone. She earns between ₹100 and ₹150 a day, binding up to 900 bidis.

“Many of my neighbours advise me to marry my girls off. I ignore them: my girls will keep studying, come what may,” Manju, who received the Abhirup Bhadra Memorial Thank You Baba Ma Award, told this newspaper.

Some of the awardees faced acute mobility problems because of their physical condition but never gave up.

Rajesh Karmakar, a Class XII student from Mosat High School in Hooghly, was born with underdeveloped legs. The daily wage earner’s son hand-pedals a three-wheeler 3km every day, travelling from home to school and back.

As the show progressed, it saluted people who mostly pass under the radar. It attributed the well-being of students not only to schools, teachers and parents but also to the often invisible non-teaching staff.

Manju Gupta of Akshar was one of the recipients of the Eveready Shining Star Honour. She looks after the school infirmary and the stationery, and tends to sick pupils.

She arrived at Saturday’s event in a wheelchair. “I have been working at Akshar for 27 years. My physical condition has deteriorated over the past five years. I’m thankful to the school for still letting me work,” she said.

The Lakshmipat Singhania Academy won the School of the Year award.

In the spirit of the celebrations, there was also a round of applause for schools that had applied but could not make it to the dais.