MANGALURU: Perhaps for the first time, three visually challenged students, who are also close friends, have bagged the top three ranks in the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) exam of Mangalore University. All the three — Gururaj, Nithyananda and Pradeep Kumar who have secured first, second and third ranks, respectively, -- are students of Alva’s College, Moodabidri.
The provisional rank list for the academic year 2018-19 of the university, that was announced recently, came as a pleasant surprise for the trio. “I did not have any clue that we would top the university,” said Pradeep Kumar, the son of a beedi roller from Udupi. However, there is not much celebration among these friends over their remarkable achievement. All three, who have also passed their SSLC and PUC exams with flying colours, have been dreaming of becoming IAS officers. However, poverty seems to be a hurdle.
After their degree exams, they started hunting for coaching centres that charged less. They found one in Mysuru and they went there to enrol themselves. “The course fee was Rs 20,000 each and we managed to arrange it with great difficulty. We had also found a hostel to stay. Unfortunately, the course did not take off owing to the lack of students and we had to move out of Mysuru after staying there for a month and a half,” said Gururaj, son of a farmer from Balanja in Belthangady.
Then, they contacted another coaching centre in Bengaluru which was ready to give them a 50 per cent discount. However, the three could not afford to pay Rs 60,000. With no other way, the trio joined Dr Reddy’s Foundation in Bengaluru for Employability Training, a three-month course which assures placement on completion.
The three have also applied for IPBS and other exams and have been preparing for it. Nithyananda, the son of an anganwadi worker in Karkala, said they joined the course at the foundation as they needed to earn. The trio thanked Alva’s College, teachers and fellow students for their continuous support during their three-year stay in the campus. The college charged them just government fee and provided free hostel facility.