Was very naughty when I was kid & kneeled outside class room for long: Wipro chairman Azim Premji

Chariman of Wipro Limited Azim Premji (Photo: PTI/File)

Bengaluru: Going down memory lane, India's IT czar and billionaire Azim Premji said he was very naughty at school and had to kneel outside the class for long time. "I was very naughty when I was a kid and kneeled outside the class room for a long time. I also got rapped on the knuckles and hit on the head for being naughty," recalled the 70-year-old Wipro Chairman at an awards function here on Saturday. Interacting with students from schools and colleges to celebrate Wipro's Earthian programme, Premji said he had to leave college midway to take up the responsibilities of his father who died young. "I left the college (Stanford University) in between to take responsibilities from my father who died at a young age, but many years later I did get a masters degree in electrical engineering," Premji told the students. Observing that girls were more serious than boys about career, he said parents should provide support to them to pursue their careers. "As girls take their careers more seriously even in villages, their parents should support them. Unfortunately, they (girls) are made to take care of the younger child as their mothers also go out to earn," noted Premji. Asserting that girls also fare well than boys in studies, the IT czar said during his visit to schools and colleges, he always found the girls to be street smart. "In my opinion, girls ask far more intelligent questions than boys," Premji quipped. The company's annual progamme provides a platform for students to learn about sustainability in the education process at schools and colleges in the country and acts as a catalyst to foster excellence in thinking and action among the youth. An expert jury selected 10 schools and 10 colleges as winners of the 2016 edition of the programme from over 1,000 institutes from across the country. The awards include a certificate each and cash prizes.