VILLUPURAM: In a last-minute effort to help a student who landed in the wrong exam centre, a government school teacher from Villupuram took it on her shoulders and ensured the student reached the correct exam hall right on time.
A class 10 student of Government Model Girls Higher Secondary School in Villupuram town, K Maheshwari, had to write her supplementary examination at the exam centre in a private school in Vikravandi, said sources. But she forgot the centre and reached her school instead. This was when A Nirmala, a social science teacher at the government school, stepped in to help her, said sources.
Nirmala told The New Indian Express, "It was already 9.20 am when Maheswari realised that her exam centre was not our school. We tried calling her parents to let them know about this but they did not respond. All other teachers were already at their respective classes for exam duty. Realising there is no other option, I took permission from the headmistress and decided to drop Maheswari at the exam centre in my two wheeler."
By the time they reached, the gate was already closed.
"However, I spoke to the HM of that school who let Maheswari write the exam. A police officer at the centre said he would send Maheswari back to our school after the exam along with others from her village and thus, I came back," added the teacher.
Nirmala, who covered a total of 36 km to and fro on her two-wheeler, says that a teacher's duty also includes ensuring students do not miss their chances for their higher studies. Given it was Maheswari's second and probably the last chance to get into Class 11, the teacher had no second thoughts before jumping into taking this effort for the sake of the girl's future.
Maheswari, thus, wrote her Tamil supplementary exam and if passed, the student will be admitted to Class 11 this academic year itself. She told The New Indian Express, "I did not know where the other centre was. Without the teacher's help, I would have lost a year for a seemingly-small blunder. I am grateful to her and my HM."