We are born with talents, we are born with a fit body; but what about those people who are born physically or mentally impaired? Or people who are poverty-stricken and struggle hard to achieve something in life. The Telegraph School Awards 2015 proudly awarded such heroes who are full of hope and determination and craves to achieve something in life. Here are some of them who were awarded for their courage and determination in life.
Saira Banu would help her father roll bidis in a village in Murshidabad and yet she secured a rank of 238 in the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination. Now she is a first year student of Calcutta Medical College and Hospital and received the Dr. Amiya Kumar Bose Memorial Award, instituted this year by her daughter Geetasri Mukherjee.
Rita Sengupta, Founder member of Prerna Education Centre, a project of North Bengal Council for the Disabled. The council was started 25 years ago by, among others, her husband Captain Jayanta Sengupta after he lost his vision at war. She was inducted into The Telegraph Education Foundation Hall Of Fame by Sukanta Chaudhuri.
Syed Asim Wazi suffers from mucopolysaccharidosis that has stunted is growth. His stunted growth has not stunted his spirits. He is not even 3ft tall. He is a Class XI student of Apeejay School, Park Street. He received The Surrendra Paul Memorial Award from another courageous person Parvati Jana who was born without arms and whose parents had initially tried to starve her to death. But she was courageous enough and went on to excel and win awards for making jute and straw craft with both her feet.
Apurba and Sanjukta Ray were previously known as parents’ of a “special child” which has now transformed into parents of a “brilliant child”. Aritra who has cerebral palsy passed Madhyamik’15 with 86 percent from Siliguri Boy’s High School. He was awarded with The Surrendra Paul Memorial Award for Courage and won his parents The Abhirup Bhadra Memorial “Thank You Baba-Ma” Award.
Arna Mondal, a Class III student of Calcutta Public School Kalikapur was diagnosed with Lymphoblastic lymphoma a few days after her 7th birthday. After her intensive treatment her parents thought they would let her take the year off. But Arna insisted her parents not to drop a year and continue studying. She received The Surrendra Paul Memorial Award for Courage.
Kalyani Chakraborty of Panchiram Nahata High School had escaped from her family and impending marriage to continue her studies and passed her HS’15 with 72%. She received The Kalipada Chakroborty & Nimai Krishna Halder Memorial Scholarship from Shubham Kumar, the 17-year-old who had lost both his arms and his right leg in an accident.
Koyel Debnath landed up in Anubhab Homes of Jalpaiguri as a three-year-old girl after being rescued from a railway station in North Bengal. Her father had dumped her in a train toilet and bolted the door from outside and fled, in order to get rid of the girl child. Today, Koyel is a student of Class VI of Suniti Bala Sardar Girls’ High School, Jalpaiguri. She is a singer and a dancer and had scored 80% marks in her last examination. She received The Indu Basu& Pritish Chandra Basu Memorial Scholarship from Shubham Kumar.
Pabitra Kumar Ray completed his Master’s in English (MA) at the age of 82 fighting cancer and odds along the way. The retired foreman received a special honour and handed over The Award for Excellence in Academics to South Point.
Howrah South Point Vidyalaya, Baksara does not charge any tuition fee to any of their students and the parents pay a token amount annually. Anytime is admission time there starting from January to December. The school won the Addlife Caring Minds Award for A School That Cares from Minu Budhia.
Uttara Mallick, the niece of Chuni Kotal, the first Lodha woman graduate in India, received a special honour for her struggle to complete her education despite being poverty-stricken. She gave away The Award for Excellence in Academics (CBSE) to Birla High School and Hemsheela Model School Durgapur.
Raghav Daryanani represented and won accolades for St. James’ School in public speaking and Model United Nations. He shared The Balrampur Chini Mills Award for Outstanding Talent with Arkaprava Karmakar, a Class XII student of St. Xavier’s Institution.
The Dr. Mrs. N.B. O’Brien Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award went to Ashok Samajpati of St. Xavier’s Collegiate School. He is often referred to as Sourav Ganguly’s teacher. He joined school in 1970 in Sanskrit department and retired from the Bengali department in 2005.
Sister Ursula Darcy of Loreto House, who was the principal in ‘80s was one of the recipients of The Honour for an Educationist. She arrived India from Ireland in 1957.
Source: http://goo.gl/4vO29G
