MANGALURU:Eighteen students, including four girls, from Pompei Kannada Medium School near Urva Market created history by writing the first-ever SSLC Tulu (third language) exam on Friday.
The dreams of many were realised, as the students stepping out from different examination centres expressed confidence of having done well. Pompei School headmaster Frank Hillary D’Souza singled out one student, Manjunath, from the SC community, for praise. Manjunath who is the son of labourers Baramappa and Mallavva hails from Bittigeri village in Koppal district.
“Everyone in the family supported his decision to opt for Tulu instead of Hindi as the third language,” his elder brother Arjun said.
Pompei School, which started teaching Tulu as a third language in 2012, had to swim against the tide to get the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board to issue a code (69) for Tulu language.
D’Souza, with the help of Tulu language teacher Dinesh Shettigar, set a system in place by drafting a blueprint for question papers.
Discouraged by the lack of support from the Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy and others, the headmaster discontinued teaching Tulu. “Technically, not a single student will appear for Tulu in the 2016 and 2017 SSLC examinations,” D’Souza said.
However, he has suggested that present Academy chairperson Janaki Brahmavar motivate the thousands of students appearing as private candidates to opt for Tulu as their third language. Meanwhile, six students from Nalanda and Canara Schools wrote the Konkani language examinations in Devanagari script for the first time.