Supa
Farm Rotary Excellence Awards
On Saturday, 8th
November, 2014, the first Supa Farms Rotary Excellence Awards Ceremony was held at Girinivas Education Trust
School at Nareshwadi, Dhundhalwadi Village, Talasari Taluka, Dist.Thane in
Maharashtra.
As you are aware, Supa Farms Rotary Excellence Awards were
recently instituted by our Club with a donation of Rs.50 lacs received from Dr.Mohanbhai Patel through Surajba Charitable Trust for students from tribal belts
in Dahanu and Talasari Talukas, in Maharashtra. Students
securing 1st, 2nd and 3rd ranks in their respective schools at the SSC
Board Exams will be awarded cash prizes of Rs.5000, Rs.3000 and Rs.2000
respectively every year from the income earned on the corpus created from the
donation. This year, around 35 schools were selected cash awards were
given away to more than 100 students to motivate towards higher achievements.
President Elect Shirish Rege welcomed the gathering and briefly
introduced the activities of our Club to the audience. He spoke about our community service projects
– both permanent and one-off projects – which we have been successfully
implementing over the last six decades.
He then gave glimpse of our proposed projects viz. Improvement in
Infrastructure at Kosbad Ashram Shaala, Introducing E-Learning at schools in
Mumbai suburbs as well as rural areas and Setting up of Language Lab at Sathaye
College.
Dr.Mohanbhai Patel, Past President of our Club and Ex-Sheriff of Mumbai,
graced the occasion whereas Dr.(Mrs.) Kavita Rege, Principal of Sathaye
College, Vile Parle, Mumbai was the Chief Guest at the event. The awardees were accompanied by the School
Principals / Teachers as well as their parents / guardians. Also present were Smt.Lilaben Kotak, Trustee
of Girinivas Education Trust along with Principals, Teachers and Admin
Officials of the Trust. PP Arvind Shah, Club Secretary Sandeep Vasani, Vice
President Aslam Merchant, Club Directors Sampati Patel and Gautam Chande and
Rtns.Mohanlal Gupta, Hiralal Suthar, Ramesh Damani and Nilesh Samant and R/Ann
Shahin Merchant were also present.
Addressing the gathering, Dr.Mohanbhai Patel talked what “Excellence”
meant to him. The phenomenal work done
by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to unite India post-freedom from the Britishers was
epitome of “Excellence” and so was the communication skills of Mahatma Gandhi
who could effectively communicate with 40 crore Indians without the
availability of present day technology-based tools. Today, every child in India has equal
opportunity to excel. In his several
interactions with tribal people, he found them to be extremely intelligent and
sharp though may have lacked opportunities in the past. The intention of the Supa Farm Rotary Excellence Awards was to
recognize the potential amongst the tribal children and encourage them to have
high ambitions in life. By bringing
Rotary to the doorstep of these villages, his objective was to encourage
interactions of rural students with urban professionals and contribute towards their
development.
Dr.(Mrs) Kavita Rege
in her address to the audience at the function talked about overall development
of personality for success in life. She emphasized the need to ensure everyone
in the community grows by leveragng on diverse individual strengths. Internet was a great leveler as irrespective
of where you are located, you have access to the same information which any
other child will have any where in the world. She encouraged children to look
at their own competencies and listen to their own inner desires before
selecting a vocation or career. Its only when you like what you’re doing and
having fun in what you’re doing that you can build a successful career for
yourself and thus contribute towards building a strong nation.
After distribution of
the cash awards and certificates at the hands of the Chief Guest, the awardees
were handed a framed photograph of their receiving the award before they left
the venue with a broad smile on their faces.
Rtn.Aslam Merchant proposed a vote of thanks.
E-Learning Demo
Earlier, before the
commencement of the Awards Ceremony, representatives from Tirubaa Technologies
gave a demo of E-Learning Modules to the Principals and Teachers from over 35
rural schools. Should the school
authorities find the E-Learning useful for their respective schools, our Club
has offered to consider investing in the capital cost of the E-Learning
Equipment, subject to availability of sponsors / funds for the project. The feedback received from those present was
quite positive about the utility of the modules for enhancing quality of
education amongst rural children.
- Rtn.Aslam Merchant
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