Sania mania yet to find a book value

NEW DELHI: NCERT spiked Sania’s name from the shortlist of personalities who could be held up as role models for inspiring students.

Tennis sensation Sania Mirza won't be held up by the NCERT as a role model for the youth. Her achievements in the cut-throat world of international tennis might have got the world all excited, but they haven’t been found sufficient to pass NCERT’s exacting standards.

Bachendri Pal, who climbed Mount Everest in 1984, has found favour over Sania’s more recent successes in NCERT textbooks, although many feel that students might have related more to Sania than Pal.

Ram Janma Sharma, head of NCERT’s languages department, is reported to have said that the idea was to portray a woman who was strong and overcame difficulties.

By this yardstick, it appears Sania failed to make the grade. When contacted, NCERT was quick to clarify that this was just a matter of making a choice among many great names.

"India has got many role models and you have to make a selection. For instance, just because one may have selected Tendulkar and have not Gavaskar does not mean that we don’t think that Gavaskar is an icon," said an NCERT spokesperson.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1452097,curpg-1.cms