7th Prerana Samman celebrates success of children with disabilities

Bhubaneswar, Sep 22: The 7th Prerana Samman (virtual) ceremony was held on Wednesday to celebrate the success of children with disabilities in matriculation examination. Initiated in the year 2015, it was conceptualised by Dr. Sruti Mohapatra to recognise top scoring students with disabilities in Class X examinations in Odisha. It is an effort at creating awareness about the potential of students with disabilities in Odisha and simultaneously motivating the students to improve their performance. Prerana Samman recipients are children with disabilities who despite many challenges were determined to succeed. Rising above the lack of basic facilities in school and colleges like teachers and books they scored high percentage and today they are hope and inspiration for the thousands of children with disabilities who drop out from school/college regularly. Since 2015, 1067 students with disabilities have been honored with Prerana Samaan and 526 with scholarships and general awareness classes. Sushmita Bagchi, Chairperson, Mo School, Anupam Saha, State Project Director, OSEPA, Padma Mahanti, Dy. Inspector General of Forests, Integrated Regional Office of Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Bhubaneswar; Ambassadors of love and inclusion Sabyasachi Mishra and Archita Sahu, Nivedita Scudder (President Swabhiman) and Dr Sruti Mohapatra (Founder and CEO Swabhiman) along with other dignitaries felicitated children. Each awardee was presented a certificate. The awardees spoke about their hurdles and struggles of life and that became an inspiration for all. Sushmita Bagchi praised the performance of Paralympians who brought more medals to the country than the Olympians without disability. She narrated the story of Pramod Bhagat who fought against all odds to win a gold in the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics. Anupam Saha expressed his interest to work more effectively for inclusive education taking inputs from civil society organisations like Swabhiman in near future. He appreciated the efforts of Swabhiman towards creating inclusion and promoting education of children with disabilities. Padma Mahanti motivated the participants and suggested to keep close to the environment, protect and preserve it for better efficiency not only for themselves but also for the whole society and generations to come. Sabyasachi Mishra appreciated all the participants for their tremendous achievement. Archita Sahu also congratulated participants and Dr Sruti Mohapatra for this initiative which supports and promotes education of Children with disabilities. In the background of many new challenges posed by Covid19, Swabhiman honoured all students (733) from across the thirty districts who have scored above 55%, with Prerana Samman certificates. Students who have scored above 65% of marks (210) will also receive a monthly scholarship of Rs. 100 for the academic session. Besides, all students (1) who have secured above 90% will receive a gold medal and books worth rupees 3000; those between 80-89% (23) will receive silver medals and books worth rupees 500 rupees and those between 75-79% (101) will receive bronze medals and books worth Rs. 500.