Ballari: Street-side banana vendor Basappa and his family were elated after his daughter Anita B topped in the PU Arts stream in the state. A student of Indu PU College, Kottur, Anita scored 585 out of 600. She told Deccan Chronicle, “I had not expected to be the topper, but expected to be one among the five toppers. Since, I had studied well I was confident of scoring 580 marks.”
An emotional Basappa, who sells banana in Kotturu town bus stand for livelihood, said, “I knew my daughter was studying well like her two brothers, but I did not know this girl would make this poor street vendor proud and honoured.”
As for her future plans Anita said, “I want to pursue BA for my graduation and want to become KAS officer. This is my dream.” Anitha used to study for six hours a day and her impressive marks card reflects this - Kannada: 97, Sanskrit: 97, Optional Kannada: 99, History: 96, Political Science: 96, Education: 99. Anita said she was thankful about the support she enjoyed from school and her family.
Anita’s mother Kenchamma is a housewife, while her two brothers are also good at studies. Her Kannada teacher Mallikarjuna said he was proud of her achievement.
“Her brother Yuvaraj P. too had secured 91 per cent in Arts and might have guided Anita at home. Moreover, the last year’s Arts Nethravathy is also her relative,” he added. “Recurrent power cuts during the exam season had forced her to prepare under kerosene lamps, candles and even under a streetlight,” Mallikarjuna recalled.
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College principal Veerabhadrappa H.N. said Anita excelled due to her dedicated efforts and hard work. He noted that last year too a student from the college, Nethravathy, had topped in Arts stream.
“Since the college is located in a rural area, we work hard to ensure that students perform well. Since, most of the students are from economically backward areas, free coaching is provided to them. Coaching classes for second PU starts from April and most of the syllabus is completed by October,” he said. This provides more time for students to prepare for exams and about seven to eight preparatory exams are held, he added.
He scored 93% against all odds
For Srikanth Reddy, who secured 93.5 per cent (561-600) in the Science stream of recently held II PUC examination, it was a grim battle against financial difficulties. His father’s meagre earnings as a salesman were not enough to pay for his college fees.
However this SGPTA PU college student managed to secure a scholarship from Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM), which helped him tide over financial difficulties. “It was very difficult considering the financial adversity my family is going through. I am happy SVYM helped me pay my college fee of Rs 80,000 per year. I just focused on my academics and I am happy with my score,” said Srikanth.
Srikanth’s father Chowda Reddy, a farmer, and his mother Shakunthala left their native village in Kolar district 26 years ago and moved to Bengaluru in order to provide better education to their children. After coming to Bengaluru, Chowda Reddy got a job as a salesman, but his monthly earnings were just enough to feed the family.
Srikantha now plans to work part time and continue his education. He aspires to be an eye-specialist. Chowda Reddy’s daughter, who is physically challenged, had earlier got admitted to MBBS and is currently pursuing her first year.
TAPAS: 25 students among 34 secured above 90%
Avinash Kumar Mishra’s family previously resided in Bihar. His father works as a laborer in the Kaiga nuclear power station. His family migrated to Karnataka due to abject poverty. Now he has made his family proud by scoring 95.17% in the II PUC final examinations.
A majority of students who were part of the TAPAS programme which was jointly launched by the Rashtrotthana Parishat and BASE two years ago are now doing very well, with 25 of the 34 students from the TAPAS program having secured above 90%. Yashavantha C, who obtained 97.17% has yet another inspiring story to tell. A native of Shivamogga district, his father works as a tailor.
Till his PU studies, he stayed at his grandparents’ home as his parents couldn’t take care of him. According to him, studying at Tapas for two years was the best experience of his life. “We had excellent BASE teachers with good experience. Their teaching took our understanding of the subject to another level. They even made the boring subjects interesting! I will always remember those 2 years at TAPAS,” he said. Other toppers from the TAPAS programme include Praveen Gouda N Patil, (97%), Sujith D Dixith (96.33%) and Sudheer D G (95.33%). “Reaching the far-flung students and bringing them into the main stream is the key objective of TAPAS,” said N Dinesh Hegde, General Secretary, Rashtrotthana Parishat.
