Poverty does not matter in merit

Merit, precisely, has nothing to do with the economic background of the students. Many students from economically backward families in the remote areas have passed the HSLC and HS examinations with flying colours in Kokrajhar district. Those in the urban areas have not been able to do well compared to their rural counterparts.

Mention may be made of the Salarpara, a tiny and remote hamlet bordering Bhutan where mist of the families have been languishing in abject penury. The hamlet is shining with 14 students who cleared HS and HSLC examination in first division with letter marks whom the All Assam Gorkha Students Union (AAGSU) and local citizens felicitated on Thursday.

 Now they are preparing for higher  studies in Cotton College in Guwahati, BH College in Howly, Bijni College etc. The students, mostly, hail from poor economic background. But poverty was never any hurdle on their way to success.

The AAGSU Kokrajhar district unit and Saralpara anchalik committee felicitated them with traditional Assamese Gamocha at a function in Saralpara ME School.

The speakers at the meeting heaped huge praise on them for putting up a good show despite they had no access to electricity, potable water, healthcare facility and communication network.

Four of them cleared the HS examination securing good marks. They are Jayraj Limbu who secured 87% marks from Bijni College with letter marks in all subjects. Then Manoj Chetry who secured 68% marks from Cotton College, Guwahati. Next to hom is Devia Sunar (Kachugaon Junior College) and Balaram Chetry(BH College, Barpeta) each secured 63 % marks in the final examination.

 Ten students from Gitanjali English Medium School and Sangkhardev Sishu Vidyaniketan in Saralpara secured first division this year. They include Laxman Subedy(86%), Omkar Magar(75%), Bhupal Sapkota(70%), Rajesh Biswa(60%), Sreya Limbu(71%), Bir Bahadur Sunar(63%),Sahara Rai(75%),Hemanta gautam(65%), Sashib Bhujel(74%) and Shristi Chetry(64%) .

Devia Sunar, who stood first division in HS examination from a poor family at Saralpara, secured 63 % percent from Kachugaon Junior college said she wished to be a teacher by profession in her life.

They deplored lack of basic facilities in the area but in the same breath they vowed to do much better in the next examinations.

Raju Chetry, AAGSU leader said that good results from remote areas were a good gesture and that border area students need to be developed through quality education.