Anu Kumari from Uchwawal village in Jharkhand’s Latehar district has become the first person to clear her matriculation exam. The village is mostly inhabited by the Parahiya tribes. They are one of the 12 primitive tribes in Jharkhand, reported HT.
Chalitar Parahiya, the girl's father, stood tall and proud after his daughter's achievement. He said she stood against the established rules of society to study and now the result is here for all to see.
Why is this achievement huge?
Kumari comes from a tribe which resides deep inside the forests and depends on forest produce for their livelihood. Hailing from an environment like this, her success is absolutely commendable.
Earlier, no girl from the village had even ever appeared for the board examination. Some boys had tried, but they failed.
In an HT report, Raghupal Singh, a tribal leader and former zilla parishad member from Manika, said, “Despite remaining on the government’s focus for long, the socio-economic condition of this community is far from satisfactory.”
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Anu, whose mother passed away when she was just two months old, comes from a very poor family. Her father works as a daily-wage earner and has raised his four children alone.
Anu dedicates her success to her father and teacher
Parahiya encouraged his daughter to study while going against the wishes of the tribe, which believes in marrying off girls at an early age.
The 18-year-old attributes her success to her father’s encouragement. She also acknowledges the support she has got from a local para-teacher, Krishna Kumar Ram.
Anu revealed, “Besides my father, Ram Sir played a very important role in my success. He not only persuaded my father to support me but also got me inducted into the local girls’ residential school after passing class five. I owe a lot to him.”
The para-teacher, Krishna Kumar Ram, said, “It was really difficult to persuade Anu to join the residential school initially. She hated to study like most of the village children. But once she agreed, she put in great efforts.”
Anu dreams of becoming a civil servant one day.
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Kriti Dwivedi is an intern with SheThePeople.Tv