BENGALURU: For Mahesh, the young boy who worked as a labourer until a week before the SSLC exam, Tuesday morning brought a surprise visitor – Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Suresh Kumar. “I had seen him on the day of the Mathematics exam from afar. He had come to wish students at our centre. But on Tuesday, he just came to my house. I am feeling happy and encouraged,” he said.
Kumar visited Mahesh a day after TNIE published a story headlined ‘Holding a trowel, he scored 616/625 in SSLC exams’, about how Mahesh worked even while he studied at the government Karnataka Public School in Jeevan Bima Nagar. The boy worked to see his family through the difficulties caused by the lockdown, and the results have given him a break from the hardship.
Since the minister’s visit, he has given multiple mdia interviews and been invited by the local councillor for the Independence Day celebrations.Suresh Kumar told TNIE that he spoke to Mahesh and initially thought of meeting him at his school, but later decided to go to his house. “When I went there, I was amazed to see how this boy studied in that atmosphere. It’s a tiny shed. He lives with his mother and brothers. There are 30 sheds, including his house. It is amazing,’’ he said.
Suresh Kumar and education department officials felicitated Mahesh and gave him a cash award. But that wasn’t all. The minister had something for him that he lacked until now: An opportunity.Kumar has assured Mahesh of a place at Alva’s College in Moodbidri, free of cost.Mahesh, who might have fallen through the cracks of India’s strained education system, was elated. His mother has agreed, and now he can pursue science for his pre-university course.
“Until Monday, I was nobody. But on Tuesday, the minister came to my house. Not even in my dreams had I thought the education minister would come to my house,” said Mahesh.He is equally thankful to his teachers for encouragement. He says the school principal will procure the application form for the new college, and put him on the path to achieve his dream of becoming a teacher.