Minister of State for Corporate Affairs and Law & Justice, Shri P.P. Chaudhary felicitated and gave away awards to toppers and international rank holders from class IV to XII for the six Olympiad exams conducted by Science Olympiad Foundation (SOF). The function was held here yesterday to recognise international winning students, teachers and principals of Olympiad exams held during the Academic year 2017-18 in the presence of distinguished guests.

While speaking with the audience, Shri Choudhary lauded students and schools for achieving excellence in academics and said that excellence is its own goal. He referred to the book Exam Warriors written by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for children. Picking up a few wisdoms from the book, Shri Chaudhary told students to celebrate exams like festivals and told students that exams are not a test of your personality, but a test of your preparations. He spoke of science and the will to perform better with the help of imagination. He said imagination is the sole characteristic of humans across the living world as we know it – no machine or animal possesses it, and is critical to develop broader thinking.

He said there is no field which is not touched by imagination, be it science or arts or public policy and government administration. Each individual requires imagination if one wants to build a new thing. And it is more important to be imaginative than be original. He said routine life is incapable of providing solutions. Solutions are found when one spends time observing, daydreaming and imagining. These are not negative traits per se. Positive employment of mind in observation, daydreaming and imagination help to create new and efficient solutions to problems. Re-interpretation of ideas, old and new, leads to innovation.

Shri Chaudhary said that observing, daydreaming and imagination should not induce inactivity. He said active life is very important for a fulfilling life and Yoga helps us to achieve it. June 21, being celebrated as World Yoga Day, is a good opportunity for those still to be initiated in Yoga. He said any new activity helps in making us more imaginative. Pick up anything that interests you; it could be photography, cooking, writing, dancing, digital art, magic, sculpting or even stand-up comedy.

Speaking at the event, Shri Mahabir Singh, the founder & Director of SOF, shared that over 45,000 schools from 1,400 cities across 30 countries participated in the six SOF Olympiad exams during 2017-18 and millions of students appeared in them. About 55,000 students from 5,850 schools have been awarded for achieving top state level ranks. In addition, over 8,00,000 students have been awarded “Medals of Excellence” for achieving top rank in their respective schools. 1,500 principals & teachers were also honoured for their commitment to academics and single minded pursuit in improving the students’ academic knowledge and successfully preparing them for competitive exams.

Academic encouragement: Felicitation of Olympiad winners promotes imagination and balanced life through extracurricular engagement and yoga. Felicitation of Olympiad winners emphasised cultivating imagination, observation and daydreaming as productive habits for innovation, paired with active life practices like Yoga to ensure wellbeing; the Minister praised academic preparation over personality as the measure in exams and commended teacher and institutional roles in wide participation and award distribution across the Science Olympiad Foundation's international examinations.