Twenty Indian students have been received  Hamdan Award for Excellence, in which 13 students belong to Delhi Private School, Sharjah.

The principal of DPS Sharjah, Vandana Marwaha, said that, “It is a unique achievement by our students as the criteria for the awards is very tough.”

“These students have had a consistently high academic performance and, besides, are multi-faceted. They do community work and are ecology lovers. As a principal, the one thing I tell my students is that it is important to participate, winning is not everything. Even if one loses, there is always a learning experience. So my students entered this contest without any fears.”

Gulf news reported that, 15 year old Rohan Kapur, from DPS Sharjah, who won the award for the second time, said that, “I won the honour in Grade 8 and, as per rules, I could apply again only after three years and here I am (for a second time).”

Sidharth Sankar, Grade 5 student, Delhi Private School, Sharjah, said that,  “I have done a lot of charity work in my hometown in Kerala, donating my savings and feeding the poor.”

“I want to study hard and return to India to join the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) to help the country,” says Nandini Mehrotra, 13 from Delhi Private School, Sharjah.

The CEO of Indian High School, Ashok Kumar, feels proud that nearly 90 per cent of his applicants were selected. “From Dubai, Indian schools had a ceiling of five applications per school and we are happy that four of our students got this award. We open the award to all students and, after we receive the applications, our short-list committee selects the nominees based on the Award Committee criteria. I would like to thank the parents and winners and the school, as this is a joint effort to groom them for the awards.”

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Nandini