After full A + in 10th, special girl sets sights high

Thiruvananthapuram: Twelve years ago, B. Nandana, 15, could neither hold a pencil nor walk as she was down with cerebral palsy. Now she has scored A+ in all subjects in her tenth-grade exam from Vayalar Rama Varma Government Higher Secondary School.

Thanks to R. Mini, a resource teacher with Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, Nandana aimed high and dreamed big where she is keen to become an aerospace engineer. But her parents, Biju Mon and Bindu Mol are too poor to send her for higher education.

Nandana was confined to the home until three years old where all her joints were badly affected due to cerebral palsy.

Her parents were confused not knowing what to do when it comes to sending her to the neighbourhood government school. It was then, Mini, a native of Kodamthuruth in Alappuzha and a resource teacher attached to Block Resource Centre came across.

She started home-based teaching from scratch where even the crayons had to be given in bigger size.

Over the years, Mini ensured that her first home-based student got a wheelchair so that Nandana could go to Vayalar Rama Varma Government Higher Secondary School with ease.

“I stopped teaching Nandana when she reached seventh grade. But even to this day, she keeps calling me and apprises me of her achievements. Nandana did not seek the help of a scribe or an interpreter to write her crucial exam.

Still, she beat all odds where she came out with flying colours,” said Mini who is currently working as a resource teacher at Leo XIII Higher Secondary School and SDV High School for Girls, Alappuzha.

In a very feeble voice, Nandana told DC that her dream is to become an aerospace engineer, but do not know how she would fulfil it. But she is determined to fly high from the small two-room house she is confined to. “I wish to pursue my higher secondary from my alma mater by taking science stream. My father who works as a tile laying labourer can’t afford to send me for entrance coaching. I am totally dependent on my homemaker mother to take care of my needs,” said Nandana. Her mother, Bindu is apprehensive of what lays ahead for her elder daughter. The couple has another daughter, Chandana, who is soon joining seventh grade.

“Money factor is one aspect as Biju is the sole breadwinner to the six-member family which includes his geriatric patients as well. Since Nandana is totally dependent on me, I don’t know how she can go elsewhere for higher studies. But at the same time, we wish to see her soaring high,” said Bindu.