Port Blair, September 21: The Lt Governor, Lt Gen A K Singh (Retd), today felicitated the first five toppers of Class XII in the Science, Commerce, Humanities and Vocational Streams for the year-2015. At a function organized at Raj Niwas today, the Lt Governor gave away the medals and certificates of merit to the 1st five toppers of each stream. He also presented the Late Ajay Mathew Memorial Gold Medal to Kumar Priyesh Kumar Jain, the topper of AISSCE-2015 (Science Stream), who scored 97.2% marks.
The Lt Governor also presented cash award of Rs 10,000/- from the Education Department and Rs 20,000/- from Andaman Chamber of Commerce & Industries (ACCI) to Kumari Sumi Oommen, a visually challenged student of the Govt. Girls SS School, Port Blair for her splendid performance in AISSCE-2015.
She had scored 92.8 % marks. Trophies were also presented to the best Administration/private schools. Smt Rupa Ray, Chief Secretary, former Chairpersons, Chairperson (SWAB), senior officers of the Administration and parents & students were present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, the Lt Governor congratulated all the meritorious students for their hard work and excellent results and lauded the efforts of the teachers and the parents for the outstanding results achieved by the students. He had special words of appreciation for the girl students, who have done exceptionally well in the class XII examination-2015. Stating that the A&N Islands has done remarkably well in the education sector, he said that still a lot remains to be done. There are a few things on which we need to focus, the main being accountability and responsibility of the education and teaching staff. He said 95% of the teaching staff are very committed and dedicated, the remaining few percent need to also focus on their students, so that the overall quality of education improves further.
Turning to the quality of education, he said there is a need to focus on quality of education and this cannot be achieved by the Education Department alone. The role of the faculty becomes crucial. The aim is not to just produce toppers but to provide quality to every student. Only then, can we feel satisfied. “Every child progresses according to his /her own capabilities and this potential needs to be harnessed. We have to encourage students to have the motivation, discipline and also the commitment to excel”, the LG observed. He further added that in order to improve the quality of education in schools, the Department of Education has initiated several steps. These initiatives have to be supported by the parents, faculty, and the Principals of the schools.
Referring to the progress witnessed in the higher education sector in the last two years, he said about 720 students have got admitted in ANCOL in the last two years. A Community College will start shortly, which will have 90 students. 70 seats have been increased in JNRM and 40 seats in Govt College, Mayabunder, besides 100 seats in the Medical College. The Administration is duty bound to provide every student the opportunity they deserve. He further said that the Education Department has provided a lot of employment opportunities in the last two years. 429 posts of teachers, which were lying vacant for the last many years were filled. 88 more seats have been notified and 123 posts will be notified shortly.
Earlier, welcoming the chief guest and others, the Principal Secretary (Education), Shri Raajiv Yaduvanshi said that the felicitation function is being organised to honour the students who have done remarkably well in their academics and also to promote qualitative education in schools. He assured the gathering that the Education Department will continue to put extra efforts to achieve better results.
The function concluded with the vote of thanks proposed by the Secretary-cum-Director of Education, Smt Tanvi Garg.
