By Ramesh Mathew

Indian ambassador Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa speaks at the seminar as Menon and Dr Pillai look on
Teachers and parents have to step up their efforts to groom children as physically and mentally sound citizens for a highly competitive and challenging world, Indian ambassador Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa has said.
The envoy said this after inaugurating on Saturday, the first educational seminar of a series organised by Bhavan’s Public School, Al Wakrah, for teachers, parents and community members. Recalling her own experience as a career woman, the Indian ambassador said there is a need to make a lot of sacrifices and added that there is a need to undergo hardship to be successful in a career.
The envoy also stressed the role of home and school for the development of children and the importance of inculcating discipline in them.
Speaking later on  “Poor performance among students: its causes and remedies,” school principal Dr Manulal Gopala Pillai said no child could be evaluated on the basis of the marks scored in examinations. “Rather, his or her abilities in other areas also need to be evaluated,” he said. 
School chairman Padma Shri award winner C K Menon expressed the hope that the institution’s efforts to bring awareness among parents on issues which caused poor performance among students in schools would yield results.
While lauding the school for conducting an educational series which would be beneficial to members of the community, Ideal Indian School principal Dr Mohamed Aejaz said poor school performance among students was a matter of great concern to parents and teachers.
“Such seminars would help change the attitude of parents and students on the whole issue,” he said.
Earlier, the school president Saleem Ponnambath welcomed the gathering.
Academic co-ordinator Pushpa Rajan proposed a vote of thanks. Geetha Kartha co-ordinated the event.
The second seminar of the series,  “Examination Phobia: causes and remedies” will be held on February 12 and the last on “Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE): Why, what and how, as per CBSE Curriculum,” will be held on March 19.
Entry to the events are free. For details contact 44770770/ 66046302 or the school website, www.bhavansqatar.org