How Important are Awards & Accolades in a Student's School Life?

A person who is appreciated will always do more than is expected. Appreciating and rewarding is a great approach to celebrate hard work and success especially in a student's school life. It might be a certificate or an award for everyone else, but the ones who are appreciated look upon it as an honor.

Awards and accolades are pivotal in a student's life. Like punishing and correcting a student's fault, recognizing a student's success is also necessary. Even the slightest recognition works as a great motivation for the students and encourages them to work even harder and sincerely.  Recognizing students with awards and certificates make them and their work stand out which again motivates them and attracts other students to work harder. 

A school that takes pride in rewarding its students for their hard work and achievement must always be taken into consideration. GEMS Modern Academy, Gurugram is one such example. Students here are allowed to not only perform in Academics, Sports, Visual Arts, Science and technology, debates, and conservation of the environment but also are recognized and rewarded for the same. In just the past few years, students here have won over 500 international, national and regional awards for academics, sport, and arts.

Apply Now

Here are a few reasons why you should reward students for their efforts:

Self-confidence - Rewarding someone for their work directly increases their level of self-confidence. It makes them aware of their capabilities and makes them assertive enough to stay consistent until they reach the top.

Sense of accomplishment - A sense of relief that the assigned task was completed and their hard work didn't go in vain gets inbuilt in the students. And with this thought, the mindset gets better and besides that, they also receive what we all constantly seek, acceptance!

Overwhelming respect - Rewarded students get genuine appreciation and respect for just doing their best. This feeling is priceless and to keep experiencing it they get a reason to always give their best in everything they do.

Inclination towards learning - Success when appreciated turns into motivation which brings along with it zeal and enthusiasm to learn new things because how much you learn and work determines how far you will go.

Awards and accolades vastly influence students even after their school life. Apart from being just mementos and symbols of their achievements and appreciations, they also contribute to their career. They stand as proof of how dedicated and sincere students they were in the task assigned to them. It leaves a positive impression on the employer and provides great opportunities to the students in terms of jobs and internships. 

Have you read? Great Teachers Inspire Great Students

While awards and recognition can motivate students to work their hardest and bring out their best performance, they can also have negative effects on others and the student being rewarded as well:

Inflated ego and overconfidence - Sometimes being recognized creates in the students a feeling of overconfidence which usually has a negative impact on their future endeavors. This must be discouraged.

Lowered self-esteem - Students who are not able to win these awards usually are left with lowered self-esteem and a feeling of self-doubt.

Competition-centered mindset - The desire to get recognized and rewarded usually detracts from the values added to the task. Completing it becomes a mere competition and the fun and values associated with the job take a backseat.

Instigated rivalries - The more the desire to get rewarded, the more is the increase in competition which results in rivalries both personal and professional among the students.

Awards and accolades vastly influence students even after their school life. Apart from being just mementos and symbols of their achievements and appreciations, they also contribute to their career. They stand as proof of how dedicated and sincere students they were in the task assigned to them. It leaves a positive impression on the employer and provides great opportunities to the students in terms of jobs and internships. 

Recognizing student certificates and awards like outstanding student awards, discipline awards, etc, updating the achievement boards both on-premises and the online portal, verbally congratulating the parents and the students are some ways of celebrating students' success and achievements. Amidst recognizing students' success, schools must also encourage others to give their best in whatever they do instead of just doing it for the award.

With the Emerging High Potential School Award by Education World, GEMS Modern Academy is #1 in Haryana and Gurugram. They have been rewarded with the Innovation in Pedagogical Practices Award at the 18th World Education Summit. Not only do they have 100% pass results for Class X Board exams in the session of 2019-20 but also have toppers in Mathematics, Science, English, and French. They are recognized as the Top Tech Savvy School at Techathon and Emerging School of the year at EdTech. They were positioned as third in CBSE Zonal Cluster Competition and Technoxian India - World Robotics Championship. They have received National School Award for School promoting Cultural Heritage and also have recognition for FIT India Movement. They have also won multiple awards at MUNs held across the country.

Taking everything into account, it can be said that recognizing and celebrating students' success is very important, for the students and the school as well. But the impact on the left out students must not be ignored either. It is the responsibility of the school and faculty to monitor the nature of the competition and tests and ensure they are healthy and superficial. And the students who miss out on their chance to get rewarded must take constructive criticism wisely and keep their determination and perseverance untouched.

Also read: A Guide on Picking the Right Stream After Grade 10th