Hassan Cheruppa

Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The recently held MES Al-Abeer Educity ESEL 2014-2015 Award distribution ceremony turned into a brainstorming session on how to prepare the younger generation to cope with the innumerable challenges that they might face in the life by enabling them to acquire life skills and while inculcating in themselves a courage of conviction.



Dignitaries from wide strata of diplomatic, academic, media and medical fields were unison in their opinion that life skills and the all-round development of personality are the catalyst in building a better career rather than mere academic excellence.



The Jeddah chapter of the Muslim Educational Society (MES), an Indian NGO with a profound track record in educational field, organized the event at Al Shallal Theatre on Jeddah Corniche to mark the end of a year-long gigantic exercise of ESEL (essay and elocution) competitions with the participation of around 5,300 talented boys and girls from 11 international schools in Jeddah and Taif.



Indian Consul General B.S. Mubarak was the chief guest at the function, chaired by Mohamed Ashraf Puthanveettil, president of the Jeddah MES. The felicitation speeches were delivered by Mohammad Raghib Qureshi, head of chancery and consul (education), L. Ramnarayan Iyer, executive editor of Saudi Gazette, Syed Masood Ahmed, principal of International Indian School Jeddah, and Muhammad Emran, corporate communications manager of Al-Abeer Medical Group, the sponsor of the event.



It was Mubarak who ignited the minds of the participants with a call to give a thrust to life skills, saying that life skills and leadership qualities do matter very much rather than academic excellence and these will drive the younger generation to the forefront in the highly competitive world. While lauding the ESEL initiative of MES and Al-Abeer Medical Group aimed at improving life skills of students, Mubarak said: “Apart from the significance for academic excellence, this particular competition helps inculcate life skills which are extremely important and cannot be underestimated at all,” he said while noting that the Indian system of education overestimates academic excellence. “Every boys and girls should acquire advanced education so that he or she can contribute to the society apart from contributing to oneself.”



He said that life skills should be taught in children at school level and this would bring them up with confidence to take life head on. “At some point, the academic excellence does matter in the initial stage, but at a later stage life skills and leadership qualities are more significant than academic excellence.”



Mubarak cited a number of examples of students who had extra academic excellence but could not perform well in real life because of lack of exposure to other skills and adaptability in job market where life skills are more important as they will push and propel them forward when they start their actual life. He underlined the need for instilling confidence in children and training them on how to interact with people, especially when facing a group of people in an interview.



Mubarak shared an example of this from his own student days, saying, “While I was preparing for civil services, there was a very brilliant student who always scored very good marks in written examination. But in the interview phase, he could not cross even the threshold level to get enrolled.



“Among the 400 candidates to be selected, he was the 9th rank holder in All India written exam but in interview, he was almost last and could not pass and get into the system. Though the student made several attempts he could not make the cut.”



The student’s bitter experience was almost similar as far as another dignitary of the evening was concerned. “When I was a student of 7th standard at a convent in Mumbai, I was told to make a prepared speech…and on the podium the first thing that came out of my mouth was hot air and nothing,” said Ramnarayan Iyer while delivering his words of wisdom.



Going to a further step from what Mubarak had said, Iyer emphasized: Apart from life skills and education, young boys and girls need one thing which is very valuable –that is courage. They must have courage of conviction that they can deliver whatever they have thought, prepared and ready to speak. They also must have the courage to face their elders and the peers, and to present a thought powerfully on the stage.



Going down memory lane Iyer said: “I was thrown into the water literally when an American teacher, who came to teach us public speaking, asked me to speak in front of other students. I was told to speak about US democratic presidential campaign in 1968 of Hubert Humphrey and I prepared everything and came next day to speak. I went to the stage and there the first thing that came out of my mouth was hot air and nothing. I was told by the teacher to prepare the speech, practice in front of a mirror and speak what was written, time myself and then deliver. I did all that. But I lacked the courage to come out and say the things that I wanted to say.”



While lauding the initiative to conduct ESEL competition, Iyer said: “MES is doing a humanitarian service. They are providing a platform for students to be courageous enough to take on all challenges and to seize opportunities. That is the important facet of any debate or public speaking to be ready to face people. It was a gigantic exercise and tough task of culling over 5,000 and measuring their talents.”



“Felicitating 21 winners is just one highlight of this day because the real winners are the 5,300 students who took part in the competition, and all should be congratulated. MES planned and executed this whole exercise meticulously and that was commendable. All organizations should assist schools and students to improve their life skills and many other facets by contributing their own skills to help the students of the future,” Iyer added.



In his inspiring speech, Qureshi said: “The 21 children who have been shortlisted from over 5,000 are the cream and they need congratulations and good wishes to scale ladders of success in life and I am sure they will be the leaders of this generation. He lauded MES and Abeer Group for giving this type of opportunity to the students, which are not available in the Kingdom.”



Syed Masood Ahmed also underscored the significance of life skills in achieving success. “The all-round development of personality is a necessity in the present era in an extremely challenging society. The toppers in our schools may not settle and enjoy comfort in society as compared to those who are not toppers but who have an all-round personality with all the life skills.”



Praising MES for organizing the event, he said: “We do expect this sort of coordination and cooperation to continue in future. In this era, if you leave complete responsibility of raising the children to schools, it would be very difficult and impossible for them to bring up the students to face the challenges.”



In his felicitation speech, Muhammad Emran spoke about Abeer Group’s commitment in enabling the younger generation to achieve life skills. “We have a very powerful acumen on education and a smart guy can learn from mistakes but an educated guy foresees and can learn from other’s mistakes.”



He also drew attention to a pressing issue facing several expatriate families in the Kingdom — the task of raising mentally and physically challenged children. “There are so many institutions to support the brilliant students. But nobody is taking creative and constructive initiatives in rehabilitating physically and mentally challenged children. We should have a brainstorming session on this issue and our group will support the initiative.”



Emran’s words were received by a big round of applause from the attendees and support from the dignitaries attended the session.