He said "Mom ,I don't want this stupid shoes , get me new ones , else I wont go to school.
I got angry, but kept calm and said, Please go to school today , I will get you new ones when you are back from school. But he was not listening and was stubborn over new shoes. I tried convincing him but he was completely resistant.
Suddenly I saw four students crossing my house , one with chappals, one without shoes, one without bag catching books in the hand. These students pass through my house daily. I have been observing them from few days.
I showed them to my son and said look , you are very lucky ,atleast you have these shoes , see the sisters and brothers , they are going bare foot and without bag, they are walking so long around 2.8kms from here to reach their school. Now you decide what you want to do?
Simply he wore the shoes , went down stairs and said "bye Mummy"!. He left for school.
I was very happy as he could understand the importance of being lucky and education at very small age just like me and all the old thoughts came across my eyes.
I never wanted to put this story on a paper. But now I wish some day when my kids read this they too must value education and how lucky they were to get educated.
It was in the year September 2001 , when I was studying my 6th standard, I was getting ready for my school.
Dad Said to Mom, "Tell Sony not to go to School from today". I am going through very bad financial crisis and I cant afford educating three children.
As a common answer my Mom said , Let her go we will plan something when her fee payment deadlines come.
My dad replied " I don't want to put her in any confusion , she is going to stop schooling from now". Anyways in one-two years I will make her marriage and send her off, saying this he left.
Now my mom started crying.
I dint even know what was happening. I was excited as I thought No School, No Homework and I can play and watch movies in neighbors' house. This continued for around a week. Then I started feeling bored. Suddenly My mom said , from today you are going to tuition.
Slowly In the evening my mom took me to one of my school senior who took tuitions around in our colony. She explained him the complete story and asked him to teach me the syllabus in tuition.
For this he replied " Aunty , why don't you go and speak to Head Of The School once."
My mom said does that work. He replied , Please try it once.
I and my mom came home. Our School watchman used to live near my house with his family. My mother went there and got clarified if she can meet Dean Of School. For this he replied , yes you can certainly have a meeting with him.
I could not sleep the whole night. My mom said, I will try hard to get you educated atleast till 15th standard and that's my promise. She woke up very early in the morning , did her pooja and sharp at 9.30 am we were Infront of Our Dean.
He was a very cool person with diplomatic ideas and was running school for around 2000 pupils in 2001. There were around 55 teachers and 10 housekeeping staff. He was very good with his memory and recognizes each and every student.
My mom narrated him all our situations and asked him to allow me to study atleast 6th and 7th standard. 7th standard as in we had board exams in old SSC model.
Now the Dean simple asked me " Can you tell me what were your annual scores from 1st standard to 5th standard?" Lol I was very happy as I remembered everything and said "Yes , yes Of Couse I do " with joy. I answered him my scores.
He said "Jamuna Bai, Don't worry about her fee till she completes her tenth standard. You need not pay a single penny. Just get her books".
I knew my Dean very well as from my KG standard every year I took a memento or prize from him either for extra co curriculars or for merit or atleast for attendance.
We came back home very happily and till 2006 , he dint charge me a single penny and I could complete my education till tenth standard with good score and standing as a topper in my batch out of 120 students.
It was May 2006 , when my father really wanted to support me but unfortunately he had other dependencies at family end, so he could not help me this time too.
Finally I thought , I was lucky atleast I could study till 10th standard. But there was something differently planned in my destiny.
It was 10th May 2006, two of my finest teachers visited my home with two more persons.
They introduced me to them. To my surprise one was admission officer and the other was vice-principal of one of the famous juniors colleges in the city.
My teacher explained them , She is the student , with 94% and we are referring her for free education for 11th standard for AIEEE batch. They agreed and gave me an admission copy where my dad paid 1000 rupees immediately. To my surprise the fee for AIEEE batch was 78k. I was shocked to look at that figure.
Then the vice-principal said , We have a condition , If she does not score above 90% in her 11th standard , then they have to pay 60% fee of 11th standard and full fee of 12th standard.
I became dumb and nervous. My teacher said we are good with your condition but if she scores above 90% the you have to provide free education for 12th standard too. They agreed for this condition also. When they left my teacher simply said "You can do it Sony" .
After attending the classes and giving weekend exams I was loosing my confidence as to how I can fulfill their condition, But to my surprise I scored 98.3% and I topped 3rd in the State , stood as topper of college all over the state. I got relaxed as I can study my 12th with no worries. With all my mind filled of goals I could complete my 12th standard with 97% , standing as a topper.
I could not get a better rank in AIEEE but grabbed good rank in EAMCET.
It was on June 1st 2008 , when I got to know that we have to pay a fee of 38500 at the time of counselling into B.Tech Engineering and this fee will be returned as scholarship at the end of the year.
I decided to skip Engineering and go with B.Sc. Computers. Some how my dad got to know all these and this time he said don't worry I will pay your full fees at the time of admission. But I knew he cant afford that much.
June 5th 2008 , it was around 10 am when I started reading EENADU newspaper , The CM had announced free education for students who are getting into graduation. OMG ! I need not pay fees , am I seeing right ? Did I read it correctly ? I put on the television and the news was scrolling.
Finally I could complete my graduation B.Tech availing scholarship from government.
During my Graduation with the help of my College Dean I could apply for Sudha Murthy's Scholarship and availed an amount of 50000 in 2010 and 2011.
I could help my siblings , one of my friend and two of my cousins in paying their tuition fees. I still love my desktop which I purchased with this amount.
To help ourselves for pocket money , transport and books , I and my brother started taking tuitions at home right from our 11th standard. We charged them very less and If someone could not afford paying fees we taught them for free. This way we helped around 10-15 students donating books and teaching them for free. To keep up our passion we joined an NGO where we taught communication skills for ZPHS school children.
By seeing the children watching bare foot and one without bag ,I could remember , My brother used a single bag from his 6th standard to 15th standard till he completed graduation. We never complained our parents for uniform or other accessories. Two pairs of School uniform , 3 pairs of socks and shoes and 2 pairs of bags for our whole journey from KG to Graduation.
Today we are all settled with good jobs and good standard of living. But at all times I feel I was really lucky to have got such people in my life who supported me , who guided me and motivated me to move forward what may ever come.
A Note Of Thanks for those beautiful hearts for making my journey wonderful from 6th to graduation.
