Kids of blue-collar workers come out with flying coloursSuccess stories
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Manaswi Hegde
While the spotlight is focussed on the toppers, there are other students who fought against odds to do well in the second PU examinations.
Raghu G has come a long way from being a child labourer on a construction site to scoring 86% in Commerce and nursing ambitions of becoming a chartered accountant. His family moved to Bengaluru from Andhra Pradesh when he was eight and he had not even completed Class I. “My parents were working at a construction site but my father injured his leg and he couldn’t work. So, I had to take up the responsibility,” Raghu said. He worked at the site and later in a bakery, before he was taken in by Sparsha Trust at the age of 14. He stayed at the shelter home and they helped him enrol as a private candidate for SSLC examination. “I really wanted to study, but amma said no. My father was supportive and then my mother also came around,” recounted Raghu. He scored 64% in a class X and the trust enrolled him in Sheshadripuram PU college, Yelahanka. “I couldn’t understand anything that was taught at first, but I kept trying and eventually the subjects made sense,” Raghu said. He has scored 519 marks and he wants to study BCom to become a CA.
Strained finances of her family did not stop Manaswi Hegde of Deeksha PU College from dreaming about becoming an Ayurvedic doctor. When Manaswi completed her SSLC exams with a score of 98%, chances of her studying further had looked slim.
“My father had been working in a paan shop but the owner asked him to leave all of a sudden. I had just finished the exams and our financial situation which was already bad became worse,” she said. She received a scholarship from Deeksha PU College, which took care of half her fees. Manaswi has scored 574 marks in the Science stream, making her college and parents proud. Unlike other PCMB students, Manaswi does not want to study MBBS. “Our family always goes to an Ayurveda doctor and I have been inspired by her since I was a child. I have written CET and hope to get a merit seat since my parents cannot afford a management seat,” she said. Her father is now an auto-driver and her mother a homemaker.
Raghu G has come a long way from being a child labourer on a construction site to scoring 86% in Commerce and nursing ambitions of becoming a chartered accountant. His family moved to Bengaluru from Andhra Pradesh when he was eight and he had not even completed Class I. “My parents were working at a construction site but my father injured his leg and he couldn’t work. So, I had to take up the responsibility,” Raghu said. He worked at the site and later in a bakery, before he was taken in by Sparsha Trust at the age of 14. He stayed at the shelter home and they helped him enrol as a private candidate for SSLC examination. “I really wanted to study, but amma said no. My father was supportive and then my mother also came around,” recounted Raghu. He scored 64% in a class X and the trust enrolled him in Sheshadripuram PU college, Yelahanka. “I couldn’t understand anything that was taught at first, but I kept trying and eventually the subjects made sense,” Raghu said. He has scored 519 marks and he wants to study BCom to become a CA.
Strained finances of her family did not stop Manaswi Hegde of Deeksha PU College from dreaming about becoming an Ayurvedic doctor. When Manaswi completed her SSLC exams with a score of 98%, chances of her studying further had looked slim.
“My father had been working in a paan shop but the owner asked him to leave all of a sudden. I had just finished the exams and our financial situation which was already bad became worse,” she said. She received a scholarship from Deeksha PU College, which took care of half her fees. Manaswi has scored 574 marks in the Science stream, making her college and parents proud. Unlike other PCMB students, Manaswi does not want to study MBBS. “Our family always goes to an Ayurveda doctor and I have been inspired by her since I was a child. I have written CET and hope to get a merit seat since my parents cannot afford a management seat,” she said. Her father is now an auto-driver and her mother a homemaker.