[gallery size="medium" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" td_gallery_title_input="Honesty, hard work key to success: Sheikh" ids="121169,121170,121171"] By Hassan Cheruppa JEDDAH — Indian Consul General Mohammed Noor Rahman Sheikh said that honesty and hard work are key to success. Delivering the keynote speech at the graduation ceremony of class 12 students of International Indian School Jeddah (IISJ) at the Boys' Section Auditorium on Thursday, Sheikh, the chief guest, urged the graduating students to be honest and truthful to themselves, and pursue to scale ladders of success with nurturing a feeling of immense pride in being a citizen of India, the world's biggest democracy which is known for its exceptional talent and hard work. Other dignitaries who attended the event included Haj Consul and School Observer Mohammed Shahid Alam, Higher Board Member and former Chairman of the IISJ Managing Committee Hassan Gayas, Dr. Nazneen Rahman, wife of the consul general, Dr. Shakeela Shahid Alam, and Mohammed Iqbal, chairman of the school managing committee. Indian Human Resources Development Minister Prakash Javadekar, in a message that was screened to the students and parents at the auditorium, congratulated the institution for serving the community for nearly five decades. He praised the institution for its exemplary teaching performance in turning out talented and skilled students, who are the future of India. He hoped that the community school would be in the forefront in the future in educating Indian wards whose parents have left the shores for furthering their career. Dressed in their ceremonial gowns, a total of 513 students received their course completion certificates in the presence of their parents and mentors at the packed auditorium. The certificates were given away by Sheikh, Shahid Alam, and other dignitaries. Syed Masood Ahmed, principal of IISJ, welcomed the gathering. The function was replete with inspiring speeches of dignitaries on how to build a successful career in future, and luminous experiences of student leaders on how they have reached that level par excellence. The dignitaries, who shared their life experiences with the young graduates, congratulated parents and teachers for their big support that enabled IISJ to score outstanding performance results. In his speech, Sheikh gave the outgoing students some tips while choosing their higher studies, including civil service and other challenging careers. "You should be honest and truthful to yourself and develop a competitive spirit. Don't presume that there is only one profession, which is the only best one in the world. We are in one human society where needs of one individual are to be supplemented by others. If one desires to become a doctor, he should pursue for that. But that does not mean that not becoming a doctor is the end of the world." Motivating them to prepare for civil service, he said that success rates for civil service exams are very high in the case of those who did a professional course. "By becoming a civil servant, you can be an administrator and a leader at a time and can do a lot of things and services to the society and the nation at large. Even if you prepared for the civil service and failed to make it, that doesn't matter. Don't underestimate any particular profession for the sake of some other professions." Sheikh said there is no short cut to success without hard work. Going down memory lane, the consul general said he had to fight against the odds as he was born and brought up in a family below poverty line, saying even people with poor background can scale heights of excellence. Sheikh reminded the young graduates that the kind of people who win medals and appreciations in life are not those born with silver spoon in their mouth "Born with a silver spoon in mouth doesn't make one successful in life. Success comes to those who are confident, hardworking and intelligent." "You should be quite confident of what you would like to do and accordingly you should work hard, and obviously, there is no substitute for hard work. You should also have emotional intelligence that enables you to have an undying spirit to do something to your family, relatives, society and to the country as well," he said, adding "unless you have motivation to do good things, you would lose interest to excel in what you are doing." "Don't undermine yourself and don't lose confidence if you are financially challenged or your marks are below than expected. Do well, anticipate for high, with a raised head," he told the graduates while urging them to tap the highly advanced technology to the full for their benefit. "Unlike our school days, it is very easy for you to connect people around and very easy to get knowledge but you should be careful and beware against misusing them." In his highly inspiring speech, Gayas gave some tips for the graduates to follow to achieve excellence in career and success in life. He identified them as an incessant pursuit for quality throughout life, stretch out to do things that are difficult and seemingly impossible, building competitive advantage after identifying area of talent, developing emotional intelligence with having self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management, and finally the importance of embracing values. He congratulated IISJ for its outstanding performance. "Despite all the limitations and constraints, IISJ produces astounding results that are really remarkable, appreciable and praiseworthy," he said. In his speech, Iqbal urged the students to develop a positive approach while facing realities of life. "You may face a lot of hardships but be always positive in your approach and then the negativity will never dare to come near to you." While identifying clear objective, strong determination, passionate soul, and hard work to the core as keys to success, he urged them to take the pure friendship all through their life. The chairman called on the teaching staff to have professional and social commitment and responsibility while performing their noble mission of molding the younger generation. In his welcome speech, Principal Ahmed reminded young graduates to bring laurels to the school and wished them good luck in their future endeavors. "Graduation ceremony in an institution is the most solemn occasion that everyone looks forward to with an array of feelings and emotions and it symbolizes the change and transformation," he said while explaining IISJ's position as a stellar pillar in supporting the process of evolution in a child's life until becoming grown up. "Here they were taught, educated, nurtured, guided, groomed, shown the direction when required, corrected when they erred, supported when it needed, and thus they grew, developed, learned, imbibed, progressed and transformed, and thus the kids of yesterday are now ready to leave IISJ as confident youth." Earlier, the program commenced with the recitation of a few verses from the Holy Qur'an by Syed Saud Iqbal and translation by Jaffer Siddiqui. The school Cabinet members presented floral welcome to the guests of the evening. The Head Boy Rizin Ahmed and Head Girl Ajiza Ahmed paid tribute to teachers, parents, friends and school officials in their impressive speeches. IISJ students Lamiah Basheer, Nuha Khan, Samiya Khalid Ali Khan, Nooreen Shah were felicitated for having topped in the Saudi Chapter in AISSC Examination 2016 in humanities. Vice Principal of Boys' Section Dr. Najeeb Qais Ammar proposed a vote of thanks. The members of the managing committee, Vice Principal of the Girls' Section Farhathunnisa, Headmaster Noufal Palakkoth, Headmistress Rita Sharma, other HMs and teachers, and school officials also attended the function. The program came to an end with a video presentation of "The end of a beautiful journey," created by Bushra Zaidi and conceived by Reeta Sharma.
