The daughter of a welder in Ramanathapuram, who travelled 15 km to reach her school by public transport, has scored first mark in the Class X State board examinations, the results of which were released on Friday.
D. Kaviya Janani, 15, a student belonging to Dalit community and hailing from Peraiyur, a village located in Ramanthapuram district near Kamuthi, with 499 marks stands first in the State.
Her father R. Dharmaraj works as a welder on contract basis in Coimbatore and his wife D. Vasanthi is employed at a grocery shop in Kamuthi. Both have struggled all these years to educate their two daughters — Kaviya Janani and Akshaya.
Ms. Vasanthi, said, despite all the struggles they faced, they took a firm decision to educate both their girl children. “Due to some personal reasons, we made our two children study in a private school in Kamuthi, which added to our financial burden as we had to pay the school fees,” she said.
“Both our incomes put together would only add up to ₹13,000 per month, but that should not hinder our children’s dreams,” Ms. Vasanthi said, adding that her daughter’s dream of becoming an IAS officer stemmed from the social life she experienced in their village.
Though incidents of child marriages have come down, still many girl children were not allowed to continue their education after a certain age. “These societal pressures have got etched as a painful memory in her, and hence she believes that she can put to an end to all these social evils when she becomes an IAS officer,” Ms. Vasanthi said.
Ms. Janani who aspires to become an IAS officer, has chosen Commerce and History subjects for her Class XII as she hopes it would help her in the journey of becoming a bureaucrat.
“The marks that I have scored will further boost my confidence towards reaching my goal. This has also instilled confidence in many girlchildren in my village,” she added.
When asked about her resolve on becoming an IAS officer, she said, it was a wish she had carried from when she was in her Class III. “The wish has become a strong desire now, after knowing about the changes that the position is capable of ushering in,” she added.
However, Ms. Janani’s mother hopes their family would get financial help from the government to educate both her daughters.
B.N. Bathusha, Head Person of Rahmania Higher Secondary School, where Kaviya Janani is a student, said they had planned to provide free education to her for the next two years.
