VELLORE: Around noon, the mood in the Vellore Central Prison for Men at Thorapadi, on Tuesday, turned jubilant. Eight of the prison’s inmates had come out in flying colours in the Plus Two public examinations and the prison had achieved 100 per cent results.
Arivu (alias) Perarivalan, death row convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination, emerged the topper among prison inmates, and the prison administration celebrated the success of the eight inmates, including death row convicts Perarivalan and Sriharan (alias) Murugan, in the board examinations by distributing sweets.
“We got the results around 11.30 am. We took printouts of the mark sheets and distributed them to all the eight convicts who appeared for the examinations,” said Superintendent of the prison N Arivudainambe.
“All of them are very happy and we are also proud of them as they have achieved 100 per cent results. Most importantly, Perarivalan is the top scorer among all the prison inmates who appeared for the public examination in the State.”
Perarivalan, who is fondly called ‘Education Minister’ by fellow inmates for motivating many to study and also for being one of the teaching staff at the prison school, had already completed BCA, MCA and six other certificate courses through open university during his period behind the bars in Vellore.
“My son was always good in studies. He stood second in school in class X public examinations. He completed plus two to pursue Ph.D,” Arivu’s mother K Arputham Ammal said.
Of the eight convicts who appeared for the Plus Two exams, five have already expressed their willingness to pursue higher studies.
“They will be enrolled into the Mahatma Gandhi Community College and we will help them pursue their desired courses,” Arivudainambe added.
“We are expecting the same results in class X public examinations for which, 16 inmates appeared this year. After seeing the happiness and success of the convicts, the others are also willing to study. So far, 50 convicts have expressed their willingness to pursue higher studies,” Arivudainambe said.