— PHOTO: AKHILESH KUMAR

SHARING THE JOY: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda dancing to the tune of Bhangra along with children at a function in Chandigarh on Tuesday to mark Children's Day.

CHANDIGARH: Children's Day, which coincides with the birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru, was celebrated with traditional fervour and gaiety in Haryana on Tuesday.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda honoured 126 meritorious students at his residence here by conferring upon them the recently instituted "Medhavi Chhatar Puruskar''.

The State School Education Department had instituted this award to encourage students who rank first in the first semester examinations conducted by the State School Education Board for classes VIII, X and XII.

Mr. Hooda said that Haryana was the first State to introduce the semester system for schools and it had yielded encouraging results.

There were apprehensions among some people about successful implementation of this system of education but its implementation had been very successful, he claimed.

Paying rich tributes to the first Prime Minister, he recalled Pandit Nehru's great love for children.

He asserted that Nehru had laid the foundation of India and now it was the duty of countrymen, especially children, to make it stronger and prosperous.

Mr. Hooda and his wife Asha Hooda mingled with the students and blessed them. The Chief Minister surprised everyone by performing a Bhangra dance along with the children.

Later, while talking to media persons, Mr. Hooda said that the introduction of semester system in schools had enhanced interest of the students in education and improved their attendance as well as results.

The student-teacher ratio had been reduced from 60:1 to 40:1 and nearly 12,000 vacancies of teachers were also being filled up.

Excellence

He reiterated that an education city named after the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was being set up and it would be made a centre of excellence by providing world class facilities.

Also, 25 per cent of the seats would be reserved for the students of Haryana.

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