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75,000/150,000 prize announcement has met with lot of resistance right from the beginning. Everybody has right to his/her own opinion. I do believe it is a wonderful way to motivate a student.

Bros.Aboobacker and Hasan have linked it to financial difficulties of Iqra. Please note, Iqra doesn't bear the full cost of the prize. It is shared by many organisations. Last time when Ismath set the new kayalpatnam record, the prize amount was sponsored by 9 different organisations. So that linkage is incorrect.

Bro.Hasan has linked the amount with the cap Tamil Nadu government has placed on the state topper prize (which is 50,000). First of all, the linkage itself is unwarranted. A government may have different reasons to give prizes. Societies will have some other reasons. Besides, in addition to 50,000, government also takes care of the entire educational fee requirement of the toppers till they complete their college.

People who oppose these prizes must understand the context in which it was announced. It is not just to motivate a student / one student to set the record, but for many students to focus on higher marks. Till 5 years back, the top mark in Kayalpatnam used to hover around 1130 - 1140. Now it consistently crosses 1150. Number of students scoring above 1100 or 1000 even has gone up.

The amount of 75,000 or 1,50,000 came about because - in its earlier avatar, the award was Umrah trip for State rank or South East Asia trip for setting new Kayalpatnam record. These trips were opposed by some, so corresponding amount was fixed as prizes.

People who criticise this award just see one person getting that big prize. That is not the idea behind the prize. A lot more people - we believe - have increased their marks by trying to be that one person. The few more marks these students get by trying to set the new record - help them save thousands of rupees later when they get to join a good college on merit (instead of management quota).

By the way, the state topper attending Meet the State Topper event in Kayalpatnam will be given Rs.10,000 from this year.