Suhas Mondal, a “lab assistant-cum-bearer” of Loreto House, gets the Shining Star Award from Gitasree Mukherjee. Mukherjee has been associated with the awards for years but is “always reluctant to come on stage”, said Barry O’Brien, trustee, The Telegraph Education Foundation, who hosted the event. Every year, Mukherjee funds a medical student for the next five years through the Dr Amiya Kumar Bose Memorial Scholarship, named after her father
Manoj Agarwal, company secretary and general manager (legal) of the Balrampur Chini Mills, “presents and accepts” the Balrampur Chini Mills Award for Outstanding Talent (art), on behalf of Abhinav Duttagupta, a Class XII student of The NewTown School. Abhinav could not make it to the ceremony. When Agarwal said his daughter is in the same school, Biswanath Dasgupta, founder-member of The Telegraph Education Foundation, requested him to accept the award
Koustav Roy, a Class X student of D.A.V. Public School, Calcutta, receives the Anirban Sinha Award for Outstanding Talent in Music from Arunima and Indrajit Sinha, Anirban’s parents. Koustav plays the sarod. Anirban, a talented classical vocalist, passed away in 1994, when he was 19. This was the first time his parents went on the stage at the awards programme
Students and teachers of Ankur receive the Somak Datta Endowment from Sujata Datta, Somak’s mother. Gour Shankar Datta, Somak’s father, is on the left of Sujata. Somak, a student of Don Bosco School Bandel, was diagnosed with a genetic muscular disorder at the age of five. Somak, who “excelled in history and music”, passed away at the age of 19 in 2015. Minu Budhia (extreme right), founder-director of Caring Minds, an institute for mental health, presented the Caring Minds Award for A School That Cares, to Ankur. The school, with branches in Kamalgazi and Sonarpur, provides free education to underprivileged children. Cultural programmes, sports, picnics and story sessions are integral part of the teaching at Ankur
