First of all I would like to extend my hearty thanks to Sanjeev Kumar Singh (1988), Harsh Rathore (1989), Shashank Jha (1989), Umesh Agarwal (1994) and Sanjeeo Mishra (1992) for the wonderful session for the final selection process of Chinmaya Smiles Back 2019-21 which began at 9:30 am in school premises itself.The students were called a day before telepathically by me on 28.5.2019. There were 5 students for the interview and all were present on the time allotted to them.
The selection process of CSB scholars starts from the day Chinmaya Vidyalaya announces it’s online form for aptitude test for the new session. Having cleared all initial levels, these applicants were called for a one to one interview process. Here’s how we experienced them all.
1) Candidate no.1 – He was not called for the interview as he was chosen unanimously during the telephonic meeting/conference meeting as all members felt that he is the most deserving candidate after telephonic interview and he is brother of one of our old scholar from 2012. He wrote a hand written application, when he was coming to submit it, very humbly and very genuinely he sat and waited for his turn to submit his application form for admission and scholarship, we weren’t able to interact with him much on that day as it was rush but this act of his shows patience and humbleness of the family. The modesty and humility reflected from his brief presence touched us.
2) Candidate no.2 – Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Bokaro topper with 98.6% and had already cleared NTSE Phase-I. She was a confident child somehow found her confused with her dreams/ ambition (which is ubiquitous at this stage) and what her father wants her to do along with her mother’s guidance. Smart and innocent wants to fly and spread her wings but need proper guidance to make her dreams come true.
3) Candidate no.3 – Confident child aspirant of Civil Services however wasn’t able to perform well in Mathematics. Will take up English literature in future. Upon asking whether could survive without scholarship or not, was confident about it that can survive. So the panel thought, we should go for the most deserving and needy scholar. Body language speaks a lot about attitude of individuals and about the individual’s future intensions.
4) Candidate no.4 – Very humble and innocent child, honest and true in self behaviour, came out for the first time so needed guidance to move ahead in correct way. Belonged to a joint family and was definitely in need for additional means. The family just somehow managed to make it to the school fees. The candidate confidently answered every question. It felt like this candidate needed more of counseling and proper guidance; as such children are more vulnerable to get distracted and may hamper their studies.
5) Candidate no.5- All-rounder scholar with humble background and a big family managing somehow to pay up admission fees by taking debt of 60,000. Doesn’t know how his family going to repay it but very confident if he gets this scholarship would help his family to get an opportunity to make other siblings study.
Father working as a Manager in Transport Company managing a big family, was making him bound to think twice before sending his child for studies to another city. However wants to make his dream successful through all hardship. May be our little help somewhere helps him out to shine bright in his life.
6) Candidate no. 6 – Confident child, somehow felt he is very sad within or in such tension. Suffering from migraine and undergoing treatment in Ranchi. He has taken direct admission and is confident about his performance. His parents have taken risk by admitting both children in Bokaro, one in GGPS who is an elder sibling and has opted for Science and next in Chinmaya. He is planning to take up private tuition / individual tuition if needed be. Upon asking about how his father was going to manage his simple answer was “My father is an insurance agent and will work more harder to make them study”
7) Candidate no. 8- he is presently in class IX in Chinmaya Vidyalaya and was not in town during the interview
It was a good experience interviewing all these students; they were all deserving and each one of them gave a tough fight for it, we found it very difficult to find the most deserving students among two candidates. Finally after lots of brain storming the panel came on the conclusion of selecting the final chosen one.
It was indeed a learning process as to how much in India we fight to get good education and on the other hand the level of inspiration for education has gone high. Each and every child was equally good in their respective fields and were very deserving in their own way. This actually shows how India is growing and it feels pleasant to feel that my existence is helping to push this process of evolution faster and deeper. This pleasure of knowing that we are helping India to move ahead surpasses all other forms of joy.
In My opinion: Whomsoever is stationed in Bokaro should come and join in for the interview as it helps all of us to know and grow together, it will always be good to have such meeting and major agendas can be taken care of.
Another point that was discussed was “Fundraising”. We came to a common conclusion that we will share the CSB account details to each and every WhatsApp groups in which we are a member.
The best part of the meeting was non CSB members were also active than the CSB Core Members. New joinees were there to visualize the interview which actually helped us to make the process more transparent
Thanking you,
Sanjeeo Mishra and Chinmoyee
Keep Smiling!!!!!