Students from poor background strike rich haul

Ravikumar Basavaraj Karalatti, who stands 6th in state, is offered sweets by his mother Geetha as other family members look on, in Banahatti, Bagalkot district.

Like always, the SSLC results have thrown up a few battling-against-the-odd stories.

Megha Maradi from Gulaganjikoppa in Dharwad fought poverty, depending on the income of her mother Mallamma, a worker in a garments shop, to notch up 92%.

Mallamma is the sole bread winner as her husband deserted the family and the responsibility of educating Megha fell on her.

Her scores read: Kannada - 124, English - 99, Mathematics- 71, Science - 73, Hindi - 92 and Social Science - 93.

The girl, who has fulfilled her mother’s dream by scoring well, wants to be an IAS officer.

Megha says she had got less marks than expected in a few subjects. The girl now wants to apply for revaulation. She used to study the lessons done in the class that day itself, which proved crucial in her exams.

She would chip in to help her mother in household chores during the leisure from studies. Mallamma wants to give her daughter good education, any difficulty notwithstanding. She has appealed to voluntary organisations to provide financial assistance for the girl’s studies.

Ravikumar Basavaraj Karalatti, a student of SRA Composite PU College, has garnered 620 out of 625. His father is a weaver and he sustains the boy’s education even with the limited income of the family.

The boy said he used to study six to seven hours a day and that the teachers’ encouragement and personal attention to each student proved a great motivation.