It was after many years that students from the Shaheed Gurdas Ram Memorial Government Senior Secondary School (Girls), located at Zira in the Ferozepur district of Punjab, made it to the state Board exam merit list. The overjoyed principal of the school is now taking the meritorious students on an air trip.
Principal Rakesh Sharma is paying for the air travel expenses of students from his own pocket. According to him, the students of Classes X and XII of the school had not been making it to the merit list of the Punjab School Education Board exams for the last 12 years. To motivate them to study better, Sharma had promised to fulfil their wishes if they made it to the list, as per a report by PTI.
"The students wished for jahaaz da jhoota (travel by air) and I told them it is my commitment to fulfil their wish. I announced in a prayer meeting that if any student of the X or XII class secures merit positions in Board exams, I will ensure air travel for any destination of their choice within the country," Sharma said.
"By the grace of God, four students, two from Class X and two from Class XII, secured merit positions in the final exams," an elated Sharma said. Two Class XII students, Bhajanpreet Kaur and Simranjeet Kaur, went to Goa from Amritsar on a flight in November last year. Both of them attended the India International Innovation and Invention Expo (INEX-2022) in Goa," the principal added.
"Two other students will now travel to Delhi from Amritsar on a flight in the last week of January. They will be visiting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Red Fort and other places in the national capital," he added. Further, Sharma said that another 22 students from Classes X and XII have registered themselves for securing merit positions after they saw the four students get this opportunity.
"The students asked me if all 22 secured merit positions, what will I do in that case? I told them I am committed to what I said. They will all get jahaaz da jhoota. Students have now correlated the merit position with air travel," Sharma said.
The principal added that most of the students of the school belong to poor and middle-class families. He further informed that when he joined the school in 2019, its rank was 48 out of 56 schools in the district. "Now, the school ranks first in the Ferozepur district," Sharma stated, as per PTI.
