JEDDAH — The ESEL Competition 2014 organized by the Jeddah Muslim Educational Society got off to a flying start with around 5,000 students in secondary and senior secondary classes from 11 Indian international schools participating from the Western region. The tests were administered under the supervision of the respective schools during last week. The topics given to students for essay writing ranged from poverty alleviation, women empowerment, sports, technology to social media. Printed answer sheets containing 16,500 sheets of paper were distributed in the schools for this purpose. Speaking on the occasion, Ashraf, Jeddah MES President, stated that this year's ESEL 2014 which is organized in collaboration with, and sponsorship of the Al Abeer Medical Group and Al Abeer Educity, is a prelude to its popular brand educational program, “General Talent Competition (GTC)”, which will be held early 2015. He said that the overwhelming participation by such a large number of students is not just an encouragement to MES but to the Indian community in general and is a clear evidence of the desire of the young generation to utilize the best available extra-academic opportunities to excel in their future. The participation of around 200 students from International Indian School, Taif was one of the highlights of the competition, which was most encouraging, he added. Alungal Mohammed, the chief of Al Abeer Medical Group, noted that the group was happy to support the co-curricular and educational activities organized by social organizations such as MES for the benefit of student community. Around 80 toppers, both boys and girls, selected from the essay writing competition will now proceed to the first round of elocution competition and thereafter the second and final round of competition shortly. The schedule will be announced soon after the finalization of the winners in essay writing. The two elocution rounds will be monitored and evaluated by an independent panel of experts from different walks of life. The final event will witness the award giving ceremony during which overall and, individual winners as well as institutions will be honored. — SG
