Ratul Khan, topper of the Assam High Madrassa (AHM) Examination 2012 and one of the seven top performing high school students to win an Assam government scholarship to visit the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) headquarters in the United States, finally got his visa on Wednesday.
Khan, son of a motor mechanic, was rushed to Kolkata in the afternoon to obtain the visa and he is expected to be flown to Delhi later in the night to join other six awardees on their 14-day dream trip.
Earlier on Tuesday Khan had to skip an official function held here, in which Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi formally handed over tickets to six other awardees for their exposure trip to NASA headquarters, as his visa application was kept pending by U.S. Consulate in Kolkata.
“I received a call on my cell phone from someone in Kolkata around 9.30 a.m. As he was speaking in English which I could not understand I immediately gave the phone to Ratul. After receiving the call Ratul informed me that his visa has been cleared. Around 10 a.m. an official of the RMSA (Rashtryia Madhyamik Siksha Abhijan ) called to inquire if we had received any new information about Ratul’s visa. When I shared the information with him the official said that they were yet to get any official message. After sometime he called again and said that Ratul’s visa has been cleared and that he will have to rush to Kolkata to get the visa. Later two officials of the education department took Ratul to the airport around 1.30 p.m,” Ratul’s father Munna Ali Khan told The Hindu.
State Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced at Tuesday’s function that Khan would be taken to NASA headquarters on the second trip after his visa application is cleared.
Keywords: Assam High Madrassa Examination, Assam government-sponsored scholarship, NASA, exposure trip
This report describes the boy as "topper of the Assam High Madrassa
(AHM) Examination 2012 and one of the seven top performing high school
students". Is it factually correct to equate a madrassa with a school?
Isn't the former basically a religious institution while the latter an
essentially secular one? Should we ignore the difference between
religiosity (which has the potential of putrefying into communalism)
and secularism, that too in the field of education?
Moreover, the United States Consulate has not shown any anti-Muslim
bias in this issue - among the students who have already been granted
US visas for this trip, one is a Muslim.
I am glad for you Ratul. Good luck with your future and may all your dreams come true.
It is good to see that state government is taking a good action to
develop an interest for research and exposure. But it would have been
equally good if they have been sent to ISRO in India (with a larger
number of students).
It also sends a message among students that India is lacking in
opportunity which is very wrong message to send among students.
I guess the news published on The Hindu did its magic, my congrats to the scholar :), INDIA SHINNING !!!
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