By TCN News,
Guwahati: 70,856 students across seven North Eastern states of India and West Bengal took the prestigious Ajmal National Talent Search Examination (ANTSE) 2015 held across 1,089 exam centres in the region on Sunday, and a good performance in it could change their life in more ways than one.
The ANTSE had assumed significance as a popular talent search examination in the North East India to start with and now its reach is spreading beyond the region while the aim is to cover all of India in the near future, a press statement by Ajmal Foundation said.
The aim of ANTSE is to identify the extraordinarily brilliant students and to encourage them through cash awards and other incentives to further improve and hone their talents. Conducted by the Ajmal Foundation, a Hojai based registered public charitable trust, whose allied activities for the cause of education include award of scholarship to meritorious students, financial assistance to the educational institutions and poor students, organising coaching classes for competitive examinations, health care, relief and rehabilitation, environmental promotion etc. ANTS Examination envisages to motivate students towards inculcating a competitive spirit.
Since its inception in 2002, over 3.3 lakh students have appeared in ANTSE till the current year, of which near about 31,000 won awards and other incentives for their excellent performance in the same.
This year’s examination was conducted across 49 districts spread over eastern India.
Saher Ali, Assistant Controller of ANTSE, said, “This talent search examination entails a lot of preparation, both in strategy and logistics. Right now, we have completed holding of the exam, and our teams are busy collecting the answer scripts and returning to the HQ. Then there is evaluation, awards etc. This means, by the time one exam gets over, we are already in preparation for the next.”
“ANTSE is not an end in itself,” said Khasrul Islam, Manager, Ajmal Foundation. He informed that for those graduation level students, who do well in ANTSE, a screening test is conducted in Guwahati and shortlisted candidates are sponsored for IAS coaching in New Delhi in collaboration with Hamdard Foundation. Some of their students have successfully cleared the UPSC examinations and other all India competitive examinations.