Message from CBSE Chairperson Anita Karwal

It is the 5^th of March, 2018. Your Board exams begin today. Your emotions are almost palpably evident -healthy permutations and combinations of excitement, focus and determination, with that wee bit of sprinkling of wondrousness about what your future holds for you. We have all crossed this stage as we pass through life.

You know, I happen to belong to the batch of students who were the first to go through the 10+2 system of CBSE Board exams. Now that I look back, all I remember is that I studied hard, revised a lot, and still found time to hear my favourite song or two on the radio (a thing of the past now), or chat with a friend while taking a break from studies. What I do not remember however, is what my results were.

So here I am today, with no memory of the marks I attained in my Xth or Xllth Board exams. What I am trying to drive at is that, eventually, marks do not define a person marks cannot bring out the uniqueness or the potential that each of you inherently possesses. Did you know for example, that Albert Einstein was rejected by University of Bern before he went on to become the greatest Physicist the world has seen, or that Bill Gates employed the topper of his batch as an Engineer in Microsoft!

We adults realize pretty soon in our careers that what mattered more was not how much knowledge we had acquired, but whether we used it wisely along the way. I am aware that all of you are at that crossroads in life, when these things do not make much sense to you. But they will, and soon enough you will embark on the career of your choice. These days will pass quickly, if you exude positive energies about the present and your future, but the days will drag if you are negative. So dear kids, do not permit stress, worry, anxiety, nervousness to stay longer in your being than a few moments. They are just 'nouns' after all! And nouns cannot rule our lives!

In the book- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Dumbledore says, "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

Choose wisely children. Choose confidence and hard work! Best wishes and blessings to you now and always.