Award

The first academic year for Anirud drew to a close today with the school closing down for summer holidays.

Being the last day today, they had the 'Awards Ceremony' celebrating the success and achievements of the year that went by. For a person who has spent all of my school life in India, the kind of categories of the awards were very surprising. During my school days, prizes were mainly for academic achievements and extra-curricular activities (various competitions). Here it was very different and few interesting ones include Perseverance Award, Hidden Talent Award etc. There were two prizes in each of the categories - one for younger children (Key Stage 1) and another for older children (Key Stage 2).

As the Head Teacher distributed the awards at the Assembly, she also made a 45-second elevator talk about what the award was and why it was awarded to the particular individual. When it came to ICT Awards, below is what she had to say,

"ICT Award was for children's interest and curiosity about technology in general and computers in particular. This particular young man was not only at ease in handling things like laptop and communication equipments like white board etc, but also had the confidence in trying to fix them when they are broken. We present this award to this lad for showing great interest and taking the lead in technology at this young age.... and this award goes to ANIRUD".

Yes. Anirud was awarded with the 'ICT Award' (ICT = Information and Communication Technology) that comprises of a certificate and a little shield. Upon hearing his name being announced, he was gobsmacked and collected the prize in a state of shock amidst applause. Although we were notified about this award last week, we were requested not to tell him about that. Since then, we were wondering what it could be for and half expected it to be for his academics, as he is at the top of the league.

We are not sure what he feels about that, as he is still in school as I type this. But as parents, we are mighty pleased. As we left the school, the Head Teacher said 'It is a great start for him. Isn't it?'. True. Can't agree more. It is certainly God's grace.



It is a shame that the photograph didn't come out very well, as we were sitting at few yards away and that the flash was not very powerful. He collected the award and ran back quickly for me to click another one.