C Sreedevi, a 16-year-old girl from a tribal settlement in Tamil Nadu, just became the first in her community to score 95% in class X exams.
Belonging to a tribal community with no electricity or mobile network, her journey has been an inspirational one.
Girls from her community generally discontinue their studies after elementary or middle school due to the lack of resources, including means of transportation. But she is an exception.
She had to travel several kilometres on foot and on her father’s bike just to reach Kerala border.
Just last month, Kerala government had arranged a special bus to transport her from the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border to a residential school in Kerala, so that she could appear for her exams without any hassles.
An inspiration to all other students of her community, Sreedevi said:
I can hardly believe I have scored A plus grades – more than 95% – in my Class X examination.
Her father, a farmer also told TOI that he is really proud of his daughter.
Let people say whatever they want, I will ensure she continues her studies further. We don’t want to hide our children within our settlement and restrict them from scaling professional heights.
He took the decision to educate his daughter against his community’s wishes and her daughter has brought laurels to the entire village.