What’s the harm if students help teachers clean school campuses, asks Yogi

What’s wrong if students pick up the broom and clean their school campuses? By doing so, they learn the importance of cleanliness, said Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday at a function organised in Lucknow to felicitate toppers of board examinations.

“I don’t understand what is the harm if children clean their school campuses along with their teachers. Strangely, it becomes news for papers -- as if something wrong was done to the students. I have done cleaning work so many times during my school days,” said the CM.

The occasion was the felicitation of 102 board examination toppers from across the state. The students had topped different boards, including UP Board (high school and intermediate), CBSE (Class 10 and 12), ICSE (Class 10), ISC (Class 12) and Sanskrit Parishad.

Each topper was presented with a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, a tablet and a certificate of merit, while parents were honoured with a ‘pagdi’ (turban).

In addition, 1593 district level toppers of UP board and Sanskrit Parishad were also felicitated with a cheque of Rs 21,000 and a tablet each along with merit certificates.

Hailing parents’ contribution in the success of their children, the chief minister said, “I always believe that parents are the first teachers (gurus) for their children who learn all the fundamental lessons about values at home. If today, these students have done well, it is because of the sacrifices of their parents. So, along with the children, we also decided to invite their parents on stage and honour them.”

Yogi said the aim of organising felicitation functions was to give a push to quality education. “Other students will get the encouragement to burn the midnight oil and perform well. However, this does not mean that parents put extra pressure on their wards to excel in examinations,” he cautioned.

The CM said that soon after his government came to power, strict measures were implemented to “restore the sanctity of UP Board examinations”.

“Lakhs of ‘students’ left the examination midway. These were people who had nothing to do with the exams. They were ‘Munna Bhais’ who were trying to appear for others to help them pass the examinations,” he said.

Yogi also spoke about his government’s efforts to shorten the duration of UP board exams. “The world’s biggest board examination used to take over three months to conclude. This year, we completed all the papers in 15 working days. We were also the first board to declare the result. It was a big achievement,” he said.

Awards, accolades, moolah & cheers !

LUCKNOW Ananya Agarwal, 16, a board examination topper from the state capital who was felicitated with Rs 1 lakh here on Sunday, said she was thinking about donating the prize money to a girls’ orphanage. “It’s my first earning and I want to make good use of it,” she said.

Feeling gratified at being honoured with a medal, a tablet and a cheque, Ananya, a student of La Martiniere Girls’ College, said her big moment was meeting and interacting with chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

“It was a prestigious moment for me. The CM asked me about my school and then congratulated me on being a topper. He said he was very proud and asked me to keep up my good work,” said the girl who stood second in the ICSE 2019 examinations (sharing the rank with others) by scoring 99.4% marks.

She said she wanted to become an entrepreneur and create jobs to help the unemployed youth of the country. “My heart bleeds to see unemployed youngsters or those earning very little for their work, such as door-to-door sales people,” said Ananya. She appeared in the board exams in the science stream (with maths and computers).

Kashish Gupta, one of the all-India second rank holders in the ISC exams 2019 (99.75% marks), said she felt highly honoured by the state government’s gesture of recognising the efforts of students, their parents, teachers and school principals.

Kashish said she aspired to be a political analyst and crack the civil services entrance test. “I was flabbergasted when the CM asked me my name and about my school. He gave a great reaction when I said La Martiniere Girls’ College was my alma mater,” said the youngster who is studying at the Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts, Pune, pursuing a four-year degree course in BA Liberal Arts Honours.

“Since my parents have worked hard for my future, I will let them decide what to do with the prize money. I am sure they will be the best judges,” she said.

Among those invited to the programme, in which 102 board examination toppers from across the state were felicitated, was the principal of Seth Anandram Jaipuria School, Ghaziabad, Manju Rana. Appreciated the toppers from her institution -- Ankur Mishra and Pragya -- Rana said they all “had a great time at the felicitation function”.

Founder of City Montessori Schools, Jagdish Gandhi, also attended the event and showered praise on CMS students Radhika Gupta and Vedanshi Twari for bringing laurels to the institution.