Monday, October 7, 2013

Why does a school Matter most?

A couple of weeks ago I was travelling to London on business. I reached the Hyderabad airport and checked in and was waiting for the boarding gates to open. Meanwhile I was looking around the stores that were recently opened and was checking out the stuff. A person approached me and recognized me instantly. He told me that he was my junior at school. Although I couldn't fully recognize him, the familiarity with which he approached me and was chatting amused me and I started talking to him. As we spoke, I got to know that he was employed in the airport and was in charge for a store. It was really wonderful to hear that a lot of his batch mates had settled well and were doing good in their lives. I wished him all the luck and boarded my plane. I reached my destination several hours later and settled with my work immediately.

The next day I met an old friend of mine again from my school whom I knew since the age of 3. He was fully settled here and also raised a family. It was already in my agenda to meet him and was mighty glad when we met. We chatted for a long time and had dinner together too. I met him twice again in the subsequent days once being at his workplace.

I finished my work and was travelling back home. At the airport in London, I checked in and sat at a corner waiting to board my flight. Right next to me sat a person whom I could instantly feel very familiar. I introduced myself and asked him if he was the same person I thought, he told me he was his younger brother and he looked very similar to the person I thought he was. We started chatting and I found that he too was a alumni of my school and was a couple of years junior to me. I was glad to see another alumni of my school on this trip. We started chatting and I got to know that he was in London for about 8 years and had settled decently. He was on a trip to Hyderabad for a couple of weeks for a vacation with his family. He gave me good company until we reached Hyderabad and we left after exchanging each other's contact info.

During the course of my encounter with all the 3 people I met during my trip I found that all the 3 had an immense state of gratitude towards our school. Although I am sure none were keen to have any interest during the actual course of study, but they did realize what school did to them later in their lives.
A school friend of mine whom I met a few years back told me that what he was today was purely because of the foundation laid at school. This guy was never serious in studies nor had an inclination to achieve something. He never attended the graduation college classes too and solely attributed to passing the graduation exams because of the "English" he learnt at school.
I had heard similar feedback from the 3 people and also heard them wish they could attend school again.
Well whatever has happened in the past, I am glad they made some amends later and are decently settled.

There are a few students who are at the top and are generally called as the creamy layer, then there are the rest. Often the rest are perceived as failures when at school, however the grooming does come in handy later and most of them rise in life and make it very well. They may not have blossomed at school but there are some late bloomers who realize their potential later in life at then reset their sights to achieve success.

My school has been able to fill up the students with enough potential to fight it out in the real world. This potential is realized by a few of them early in life and for some of them later..but it never goes waste.To put in simple words..nobody can be written off!

My school has been providing free education to a majority of students since 1955. It usually caters to the people having a poor background. I realized the potential of free education when I met these 3 guys.Couple of them I know are from a not a well to do background, but the strong foundation they had at school lifted them a few notches on the economic status. They did good for themselves as well as their families and now are also contributing to the world economy. Imagine the exponential benefits our country (and the world) had since 1955 with thousands of students contributing to the economy!

This is a humble tribute to my Alma Mater St Marks Boys Town High School, Hyderabad.




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