She is neither a teacher by chance, nor by choice. It is destiny that brought Paramjit Kaur to this profession in 1986. Twenty two years later, the principal of BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary Shastri Nagar was conferred with the prestigious ‘CBSE Award-2007’ by Union Minister of State, Human Resource Department, Mohammad Ali Ashraf.

“There are two kinds of people — one who grow with the institution and the other with whom the institution grows. In my case, I grew up with the school and the school grew up with me. I owe my achievement to the school and my family members who always inspired me,” says Paramjit.

A graduate from Fergusson College, Pune, Paramjit wanted to be a doctor. “I could not clear PMT, but had cleared the test for Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS). But my father, who was in the Indian Army, did not send me for BDS,” she recalls.

One of her teachers at the college had told her once that “if you are a star you can be a star in any field”. The words made her realise her real potential and she passed MSc in chemistry with gold medal and then cleared her MEd.

She started her career as a science teacher in a Chandigarh school, but left the job after marrying into a Ludhiana family. It was her father-in-law, Captain Niranjan Singh (retd), who motivated her to get back to her professional life. “He had said if he made me sit at home, it would be a national wastage. His words inspired me and I joined the BCM School as a teacher in 1989,” says Paramjit. She became the vice-principal exactly ten years later.

... contd.