Chief minister Hemant Soren’s tweet on Monday morning has ensured that two tribal girls from underprivileged homes can pursue their dream of higher studies.
Laxmi Murmu, 16, a Plus Two student of science at Rajganj Inter College under the Binod Bihari Mahto Koylanchal University, could not fill up her upcoming Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) board exam forms as she had not paid her tuition fee for the year and examination fee worth Rs 1,900 in all.
Reason: her family’s sole earning member, father Babujan Murmu, works as a daily wage earner in Gujarat and finds it difficult to send remittances regularly.
A panchayat samiti member of her village Ledodih, Suraj Soni, highlighted her plight on his Facebook account, which was noted by a local Hindi daily which carried a story.
A JMM leader from Dhanbad, Ram Krishna Kisku, tagged this report to the chief minister’s Twitter handle.
Hemant immediately took note of the report and tweeted to Dhanbad deputy commissioner Amit Kumar that this girl and for that matter any other girl student in Jharkhand facing similar financial ordeals be helped immediately.
“Koi bhi beti ki paison ke abhav me shiksha rukne na paaye, ye Jharkhandiyon ke is sarkar ki prathmikta hai (Not a single daughter’s education should be stopped over money crunch, this is the priority of this government of Jharkhandis),” Hemant tweeted.
The district administration, at Hemant’s orders, not only ensured that Laxmi submitted her exam form, it also helped another tribal girl of the same inter-college, Geeta Kumari Murmu, 18, and a farmer’s daughter from Tilaiya panchayat, for whom it was difficult to pay Rs 750 as exam fees.
This apart, DC Kumar gave each girl Rs 10,000 through cheques.
Both Laxmi and Geeta, who had lost hope of appearing for their Plus Two board exams next month, appeared both thrilled and dazed.
“The last date of paying the exam fee was December 30, 2019. I thought, my dreams of studying are over. Thanks to the chief minister, I can appear for my exam. I promise to study very hard,” said Laxmi who wants to pursue a nursing course after Plus Two.
She added that by the time her father could send some money home from Gujarat, in January, the last date to submit her exam fees was over.
“If the chief minister had not intervened, I would not have been able to sit for the board exam this year,” he said.
Geeta also added she was “indebted to the chief minister”. “I am pinching myself,” she said.
District education officer Alka Jaiswal, who ensured the girls filled up the forms, said she would forward the applications to the JAC.
