Boy who had no home passes SSLC exam

ALAPPUZHA: Abhijith, who found a home run by Child Welfare Committee after DC reported his plight last year, has passed SSLC exam with two A-Plus.  Hailing from Kannangalam, he was one of the 23 inmates of the Mayithara home displaced in last May after it became a girl's home. But the authorities failed to find him a new home even after a week of school opening. 

Sobha Koshy, then chief of Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KeSCPCR) took notice of the report and accommodated him. Later the DVHSS Charamangalam student enrolled in Patriarch Elias Memorial High School Thiruvanchoor. Excited by the result, he said he was topper among ten inmates. "I have got two A-plus, two B-plus and the rest are C and C-plus," he told DC. 

"If KeSCPCR had not intervened, I would not have continued my education." He plans to join a higher secondary school in Mavelikara. He also thanked Geethakumari, a teacher and his local guardian, who took selfless effort to get him on the track. The Dalit student dropped out of Class IX since his alcoholic father created ruckus at Sree Vitoba HSS Kayamkulam, where he was a student. 

Felt ashamed of his father’s impropriety, he refused to go to school and started wandering in and around his native place engaging in child labour.  It was Ms Geethakumari who took him to the Mayithara home where he resumed education. But he was forced to leave after the district child protection officer evicted boys last year rather forcefully for setting up a girl’s home in every district. Thirty-one minor girls are currently staying here.

Abhijith, whose mother Krishnakumari, a domestic worker, is now staying at a rented house along with two younger sisters (Class VI and IX students). His father Mohanan never took care of his children and wife and often picked up a fight after getting drunk. Geethakumari, the local guardian, demanded special care of the authorities for his higher education.  “To me, his victory is  precious than anybody else, for he won not only an exam but also hardships that came across his life,” she said.