DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

In a first of its kind initiative to provide wings and empower government school students of Punjab & UT Chandigarh, the Punjab Governor & Administrator, UT, Chandigarh, Sh. Banwari Lal Purohit today honoured 300 students of class 10 & 8 of Punjab & UT, Chandigarh with cash awards and recognition certificates at Punjab Raj Bhavan.

During his congratulatory remarks on the occasion, Governor Banwari Lal Purohit said that out of 300 students hounoured today, 247 are girls which shows that girls are excelling in all fields which is a giant step towards making India a Vishwa Guru.

The Governor asked the young students to enrich themselves with quality education and modern skills so that they could achieve their goals easily at the global level. He emphasized on the need to empower the students especially those hailing from the remote and underprivileged areas for better livelihood.

The Governor said that former Prime Minister late Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar & Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and many other great Indian personalities are great examples of coming from very poor backgrounds and scaling great heights of success in life just because of their honesty and dedication. He asked the children to adopt such heroes as their role models who lived their lives with simplicity, honesty and worked with sheer perseverance and steadfastness for the development of the Nation. He emphasized the students to live a simple and honest life.

Notably, 'The Society for Empowerment of Disadvantaged Talented Youth' has taken this initiative to honour meritorious students of class 10 and 8 of Government schools of Punjab and U.T. Chandigarh with cash scholarships worth Rs. 20.70 lakh and Certificates of Appreciation', added the Governor and said that earlier in February this year as many as 300 students were honoured on the same pattern and this practice will continue on the regular basis from now onwards.

The 300 students honoured today included 225 from Punjab and 75 from UT Chandigarh. The Prize money given is Rs. 10000 to each class 10th student and Rs. 5000/- to each class 8th student. An overwhelming majority of these high achieving students are girls, infact there are 247 girls out of 300 Prize winners and out of the total 225 from Punjab as many as 151 are from rural areas, also 51 of the Punjab achievers are from the border districts and about 40 are from the Kandi area.
(editor@dailyworld.in)