Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday felicitated the toppers of class 10 and 12 board exams conducted by Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) and Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in 2020 and gave away cheques worth Rs.1 lakh to at least 38 students for their meritorious performance in academics.
Soren assured the Government’s support to all the meritorious students of Jharkhand, asking them to aim high and strive for success in academics. “The government stands by your side. We will support meritorious students of our state in achieving new heights. Very soon, the government will also provide foreign scholarship to students of our state,” he said.
This year, more than seven lakh students appeared for class 10 and 12 board exams in Jharkhand. On July 22, the Jharkhand Cabinet decided to give away a cash award of Rs.1 lakh to each of the toppers of class 10 and class 12 in a bid to encourage them to further improve their performance and achieve higher goals. As per a document shared by the HRD, at least 10 class 10 students and 28 class 12 students were felicitated on the day.
Soren launched two digital platforms – Digi School and Learnytic 2.0 – for improving the quality of online education for students in Jharkhand. These apps will particularly benefit the students of class 9 to class 12, as they will now be able to access videos related to lessons in their syllabus.
Throwing light on the Covid-19 situation in Jharkhand, the CM said that the student fraternity was worst-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Students, he said, were forced to stay indoors due to the circumstances, but taking precautions was important until a vaccine for the virus is out. “If the situation doesn’t improve soon, then we will think of ways to make online education more comprehensive and interesting for our students,” he added.
Besides giving away cash prize to the toppers, the CM also felicitated at least eight government school students, who found berths in IITs and medical colleges after preparing through Jharkhand’s Aanksha project. Under the project, the government provides free coaching to meritorious students of government schools to help them crack JEE and NEET exams.
Soren also conferred Mukhyamantri Swaccha Vidyalaya award to nine schools for their efforts in maintaining cleanliness and hygiene in their respective campuses. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, another 110 schools, which were supposed to get felicitated in Ranchi, were given the awards at ceremonies organised in their respective districts on Thursday. “Due to Covid-19 restrictions, all of you could not attend the event.
However, I thank everyone participating in the ceremony via online platforms for joining us today,” said Hemant.
Representatives of Government Public School, Kutmu, Lohardaga; Government Public School, Gopalpur Deoghar; Rajkiya Madhya Vidyalaya, Kaswagarh, Bokaro; Government Madhya Vidyalaya Lohardaga; Rajkiya High School, Amlabad, Bokaro; Yogada Satsang High School, Jagganathpur; KGBV Senha, Lohardaga; Samarth Residential School, Golmuri, Jamshedpur and Saraswati Vidya Mandir School, Gumla were felicitated by the CM at project building in Ranchi. The schools were awarded with cheques of Rs.1 lakh, Rs.1.50 lakh and Rs.2 lakh as per their performance.
Talking about the glorious past of some of the reputed schools in Jharkhand, Soren said that Netarhat School in Latehar has produced more than 2000 IAS, IPS officers. “We feel proud that schools of such high stature are imparting education to our children,” he added.