VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu distributed Pratibha Puraskarams to students at Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation Stadium in the city on Sunday on the occasion of the 87th birth anniversary of former President APJ Abdul Kalam. As many as 3,991 boys and girls from 630 mandals of the State were selected for the awards. The selected SSC, Intermediate and degree students were given `20,000 cash award and a tab worth Rs10,000. The students who received Pratibha awards spoke on the occasion.
The Chief Minister was moved by the words of Class X student Rehana from Nandivada ZP school of Krishna district, who said government schools have all facilities and people should not consider them low. She said she achieved success because of the support of the school teachers and her parents.
Sania from Padmavathi University of Tirupati said she wanted to meet Abdul Kalam at least once, but in vain. “So it is an honour to receive the award on his birthday,” she said. She wanted to write civil services examinations to serve the nation by becoming an IAS officer.
An awardee’s mother, Padmavathi, who came from Venkatachalam of Nellore district, said she became a teacher to make bright students to serve the nation. Naidu presented her a book on Abdul Kalam’s life history.
The Chief Minister, who presided over the function, said knowledge is wealth. “NRIs like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Google CEO Sundar Pichai are from this land and so, the future is ours,” he said.
He said, “It is because of the wrong decision of the Chinese and Japanese governments that there are higher number of old people in those countries today. In fact, the increase of population is a boon,” he said. He exhorted students not to download Blue Whale game.
HRD Minister Ganta Srinivas Rao said: “We are providing digital classrooms and other necessary infrastructure to improve the quality of education in government schools. Many reputed higher educational institutions and universities are soon coming to Amaravati.”