Chennai student wins Duke of Edinburghs Award
Source
THE HINDU
Date
2005-10-31
Information
For D. Anantha Narayanan, a business administration student from Chennai, the Duke of Edinburghs award not only brought a chance to perform voluntary service and an activity of his choice. It also paved the way for his visit to Hong Kong and China as part of the International Gold Event 2005.
The Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme is described as a self-development programme for young people between the ages of 14 and 25. Participants need to have performed some prescribed hours of voluntary service and activities of their choice to qualify for the award.
The International Gold Event is held once in three years for gold awardees, or those who have participated in the scheme for at least 18 months. This year, it was hosted by the Hong Kong Award Authority on the theme of `The Award and Global Issues between September 13 and 28.
Anantha Narayanan, a gold awardee, applied for attending the event. Short-listed for the interview, he had to go to Delhi for the same. He was part of the successful team of four from India at the event attended by 72 delegates from 31 countries. Discussions and presentations covered a gamut of issues under themes such as environment, poverty and HIV/AIDS.
A visit to the Agriculture Research Centre and the Mai Po wetland in Hong Kong taught them the importance of wetlands in the eco-system.
Innovative methods were used to explain issues such as poverty and HIV/AIDS.
The event helped me make many new friends. Hong Kong is a wonderfully clean place and programmes in Singapore and Mauritius are now being planned, said Narayanan.
