Rs 1 crore gift: Goyal a man with golden heart, says school

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh. February 21

“Sandeep Goyal is a man with a golden heart,” said principal Kavita Das at a well–attended ceremony at St John’s High School here today.

Goyal today presented a cheque for Rs 1 crore to his alma mater, from where he passed out more than 40 years ago in 1977. The donation to the school has been housed in the ‘Sandeep Goyal – St John’s Endowment Fund’, which is a perpetual fund to be managed by Julius Baer, the global Swiss wealth management advisors.

  The function was attended by Goyal’s Japanese mentor, Fumio Oshima, who specially flew down from Tokyo. Oshima was the global head of Dentsu Inc, the world’s largest advertising agency. He has also been a board member of Publicis, Leo Burnett and Saatchi and Saatchi.

“I think Sandeep has done a very noble deed. The warmth and deep emotional connect that the schoolchildren showed to the Goyal family really touched me. When one gives back to one’s school, it is actually not giving back, but meant for the next generation,” said Oshima at the ceremony. The gift cheque was presented to principal Kavita Das by him and Dr SL Goyal, Sandeep’s father.

Present at the morning school ceremony were Manmohan L Sarin, senior advocate; Dr Balram K Gupta, former head of the National Judicial Academy; Maninder Bains, Chairman, Chandigarh Housing Board (also a St John’s alumnus); Nippy Ghai, chairman, SJOBA Foundation; Sandeep Sawhney, president, SJOBA; besides a lot of other local dignitaries.

Speaking at the function, Sandeep Goyal, who is a former Group CEO of Zee Telefilms and ex–JV partner of Dentsu in India, said, “I think gratitude is very important in life. When you land at your destination, you must never forget from where you boarded. Our school is our biggest learning ground. It lays the foundation of our lives. Our teachers spend so much time and love getting us ready for the journey of life. It is, therefore, only right that we thank them appropriately when we achieve a certain station in life. I want this endowment to become an enduring example for others too to contribute to the greater goodness of their schools.”

As reported in these columns today, the accruals from the Endowment Fund will be used to help build the St John’s brand further. On the anvil are plans to start an annual oration. “We already have a list of eminent personalities to whom we shall be reaching out. We want to build the annual oration into a calendar event for not just the school, but the City Beautiful”, said Prof Avanindra Chopra, who will be one of the members of the advisory committee of the endowment fund.

 Under the endowment, it is also planned to start an all-India schools’ debate and declamation, both of which will be built into national-level competitions. “I was a very keen debater. I think good elocution and public speaking skills add tremendously to the personality of a child. The school debates in my mind are necessary for the overall development for children,” added Goyal.