COIMBATORE: A tribal student from Nallampalli, C Haripriya was rescued at the age of eight under the Ministry of Labour under the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act. At 15, she has made it big by clearing the Class X examination with 76 per cent marks.
With none to guide her and brought up by an aunt, the girl from the tribal village with very few graduates was forced to quit school when she was five as the family needed additional income. “I have no memory of my mother. She died when I was born and my father, when I was 10 years old,” Haripriya said.
“Since my father was sick, he could not do any hard work and was not contributing financially to the family,” she said, explaining that the sole bread winner of the family was her aunt P Kunjama (60), a daily wage labourer who earned at most Rs 200 a day.
“I did not go to school for nearly three years. Instead I would go to the forest and earn about Rs 50 a day,” Haripriya said and added that she was happy contributing financially to her family from a young age.
Haripriya, who wants to be a software engineer, has decided to enrol in science group in class XI. Having studied in Government Tamil Medium School, she said it was difficult to learn and understand English as “it appeared more alien”.