Post on 18-Jul-2015
Do High Marks Alone Assure Success?
Generally parents and teachers do not actively encourage students to
participate in extra-curricular activities under mistaken notion that this
will affect the academic performance of their wards. They believe that
high academic performance assure high success and good jobs! Very few
parents and teachers recognize the importance of extra-curricular
activities in overall development and success of their wards.
Recently, ‘The Times of India’ a newspaper in India conducted a all India
competetion named ‘Times Scholars’. Under this competetion, the paper
set aside a sum of INR 10 million to be distributed amongst twenty
students as scholarship for graduate studies. About 45,000 students
applied for this scholarship. Rigrous written exams and interviews were
held all over India and twenty students were selected after this rigrous
elimination process.
The profiles of these twent students make an interesting study. The brief
profiles of these students are given below:
1. Akhila Jayram
School: St. Joseph Boy’s High School, Bangalore
Extra Curricular Activities: School Compeer, volunteers at an NG, has interned at Nimhans
2. Anmol Sahoo
School: RN Podar School, Mumbai
Extra Curricular Activities: Plays the Bass Guitar, Designs video games
3. Anshul Gupta
School: The Shri Ram School, Gurgaon
Extra Curricular Activities: Won best -Singapore's Nan yang Tech Universities' Model UN, Has applied for a patent for his invention to cut emissions from car exhausts
4. Annay Kulshretha
School: DPS, Dwarka, Delhi
Extra Curricular Activities: Has won over 10 debate competitions,Heads School's Quiz & Maths Clubs
5. Aruj Shah
School: Navrachana Higher Secondary School- Vadodara
Extra Curricular Activities: Winner of State Level Chess Tournaments, plays the tabla, has directed a short film
6. Athith Krishna
School: Shri Kumar Children's Home, Bangalore
Extra Curricular Activities: Karate champion, quizzer, guitarist ,has won laurels at Model UN meets
7. Ayush Chaudhari
School: Meridian School for Boys & Girls, Hyderabad
Extra Curricular Activities: Compeer, poet, debater, editor of School's Magazine
8. Barun Patra
School: DPS RK Puram- Delhi
Extra Curricular Activities: Plays cricket, plays football, plays basketbal, heads School's Computer Lab
9. Gurrein Madan
School: DPS -Amritsar
Extra Curricular Activities: Tennis layer, has won awards for her oratorical skills, plays the violin
10. Mamta Menon
School: Deogiri College- Aurangabad
Extra Curricular Activities: State level Archer, the Bharatnatyam Dance, a keen debater
11. Mangesh Sonawane
School: Kendriya Vidyalaya; INS Mandovi Verem, Goa
Extra Curricular Activities: Pursues martial arts, plays TT, has participated in global science fairs of Google & NASA
12. Manu Chopra
School: GD Goenka School, Rohini- Delhi
Extra Curricular Activities: Passionate about debating & theatre, holds a patent for inventing anti-molestation device for women
13. Nandini Bhardwaj
School: National Hill View Public School; Bangalore
Extra Curricular Activities: Learns Bharatnatayam, loves footbal, is a winning sprinter, has won awards in academics, sports, elocution & dance
14. Shounak Ghosh
School: DPS Ruby Park; Kolkata
Extra Curricular Activities: President of School's Interact Club, seeks a career in academics
15. Shreya Vardhan
School: DPS, RK Puram Delhi
Extra Curricular Activities: Writer, school Head Girl, tennis champ, has written for leading papers, taught software development at a special school
16. Sneha Nandi
School: R N Poddar School, Santakruz-Mumbai
Extra Curricular Activities: Has won Silver Medal at a Young Scientist's Exhibition, has also won debates
17. Ujwal Dahuja
School: The Doon School, Dehradun
Extra Curricular Activities: Plays chess at national level, captain of SchoolCricket Team
18. Vaishnavi Ramaswamy
School: in Chennai
Extra Curricular Activities: Artist, passionate about designing posters, has won many debates
19. Vibhaalaxmi Sivaraman
School: DAV Girls High School- Chennai
Extra Curricular Activities: Captain of school basketball team, proficient Bharatnatayam Dancer, plays chess & TT School (vice captain) School magazine editor
20. Vibhu Parcha
School: St. Joseph Academy -Dehradun
Extra Curricular Activities: keen quizzer, has also won several debatingcompetitions
These are 20 Best Class 12 Students selected by ‘The Times of India’ from45,000 contestants from all over India after many written tests & interviews! Interestingly, there are almost equal number of boys and girls in this list and many of the winners are from small or medium size cities and not from metros ao large cities having much better infrastructure.
Now, I will not give my views about these twenty students. Instead, I will just ask the reader to ask herself/himself these questions:
1. Did extra-curricular activities of these students affect their studies?
2. Will they get better jobs than their friends who are just academically good?
3. Will these students be more successful then others in their lives as compared to their counerparts who are just academically good or even better than these students?
Just think about this!
By
Sarwan Singh
Sarwansingh6644@gmail.com