Free flying for meritorious govt school students

Anantapur: A band of rural students studying in government schools were motivated and challenged by the announcement of Rural Joint Director (RJD) Pratap Reddy to study hard and secure 10 out 10 points in the public examination of secondary school certificate. The RJD promised to give a flight travelling experience free of cost to students, who come out of the SSC examination in flying colours.

• 17 students, who scored 10 out of 10 in SSC exams were taken on a free trip from Bengaluru to Hyderabad
• RJD gave promise to students of free flight trip in his personal capacity
• Currently, all the 17 students are studying in IIIT at Idupulapaya

The RJD made this promise to students in his personal capacity during his visit to the district, as part of efforts to boost not only pass percentage of tenth class students but also challenge them to secure merit by scoring top marks. Saturday was a joyful day when the RJD fulfilled his promise by taking 17 boy and girl students, who scored 10 points out of 10 in the SSC public examination in 2016-17 academic year.

All these merit students are currently studying in IIIT at Idupulapaya in Kadapa district. 23 other students of private aided schools also scored the same merit marks but the privilege of flying over the skies of Bengaluru and Hyderabad was confined to only government schools.Pratap Reddy told The Hans India that the objective of his private offer to students was to trigger in a competitive spirit among the government school students and to motivate them to secure highest percentage of marks in the public examination so that, the under-privileged rural students will also be able to compete with urban and metro students who have all the exposure, facilities and resources to fly high in life.

Clarifying that this is not a government scheme but only his personal scheme aimed at tempting students to study well at least for the sake of a tempting offer of a flying experience in aeroplanes. Apart from spending his own funds to fullfil the promise, friends and well-wishers, who appreciated the cause also joined hands to make the dream of students a reality.

The result was, all the students got a real flying experience from Bengaluru to Hyderabad. For the rural students, who lifts their head above to have a glimpse of the aeroplane flying over them, it was a joyful privilege to have a feel of the mega-bird and sit and journey in the flight enjoying the clouds and the worlds beyond the blue skies.

For Anjaneyulu and Srinivas of Guntakal town, it was a memorable flying experience. It was a dream come true says Srinivas for him, who always wondered what lies beyond the blue skies. However, on Saturday last, he had a feel of the world above. One day, he would earn himself and fly again, he adds. Anjaneyulu says he would one day be a pilot who would ride an aeroplane. Pratap Reddy says that he would implement his scheme every year as long as he is the RJD in the Rayalaseema zone.

The students, who had a flying experience were all praise for the RJD and were giving a wide publicity which has a message that their co-students should study hard to be on the top. Even, if there were none to award them with a flying experience, the students can themselves travel in aeroplanes if they fly high in their careers.

The flying offer is also confined to only Anantapur district as the announcement was made only for the district students. The flying experience gave the school teachers and headmasters an opportunity to carry forward the message and motivate the students to study hard and be an achiever. DEO Lakshminarayana accompanied the students.

By Ravi P Benjamin